When The Glass Shatters
by RikusTwilight
Summary: Things would be easier for Lightning if she stopped denying her feelings for Vanille. Yet a mysterious orb, and an unknown presence lurk around the corner. LightxVanille
1. First Touch

_This is the first chapter of what I hope will become a long story. I will write another chapter in the next couple of days. Please enjoy and review!_

_When The Glass Shatters_

___**First Touch**_

Lightning's mind was only on one thing – the mission at hand.

As she sat on one of the rocks overlooking the pool at the furthest end of the Archylte Steppe her mind raced with images of the trials she has had to overcome since starting her journey on that train, so seemingly long ago.

Lightning shut her eyes tight, the darkness was welcoming, comfortable and almost familiar.

Only she could be in this darkness, only she could be the one to affect it.

She could hear the others voices in the background _"Hmph"_ she thought to herself _"Why wont they just be quiet just once?"_ Flashes of each of their faces sprang across her darkness, invading it like some unwanted guest.

Each only presented itself for a mere moment, before she dismissed them with a little remark in her head _"stupid, they are all so childlike and unfocused" _she thought to herself again.

She could sense movement approaching her, but didn't move as she was too busy within her thoughts.

She listened intently, trying to figure out who the assailant was to attempt to catch them with a sly remark.

The breathing was soft, footsteps light and not every foot touched the ground fully. Lightning heard a faint clinking of jewellery in the mix.

Just as she sensed a tingle of static between her shoulder and the person's fingers, still with her eyes closed she remarked "Vanille, if you come any closer to me you will not want to wake up tomorrow"

"Oh" Vanille froze in surprise that the calm soldier had sensed her even approaching. _I swear I was so quiet this time. _Vanille liked to creep up on people in moments of quiet, just to be friendly and mainly to hear a laugh. The group was so tense at times.

"I'm sorry Light, I was only playing"

_Playing? This isn't the time to be playing anything, this isn't a game its real life Vanille, one momentary slip and it's over. We become Cie'th._

"It's ok Vanille. Just don't let it happen again ok?"

Vanille smirked. "Ok" and her eyes lit up with a deviance rarely seen in the youth.

She held out both hands, and positioned them in line with Lightning's shoulders. She counted in her head.

_1,  
2,  
3!_

And with that last count in her head she leant forward and gave an almighty push which sent Lightning off of the rock she was sitting on and head first into the pool of water below.

Vanille giggled to herself as she watched the splash and saw Lightning sink down into the water.  
One second went by, and then another and Lightning had not resurfaced. Vanille was sure Lightning could swim but grew worried nonetheless.

She moved around to the edge of the pool, and knelt down, looking curiously in. The water was almost clear but she couldn't see Lightning at all.

* * *

When Lightning found herself pushed into the water, anger initially spewed over her like venom. But after a second of floating down into the water she came up with a plan.

_I'll stand on the bottom of the pool and use my cape to shield myself from Vanille's view, and then I can rush up to her and grab her ankle._

* * *

Vanille leant in even closer and suddenly felt a hand grab her chest and pull her down into the water.

"Arhhh!" she screamed.

Vanille fell into the water with an equal splash as Lightning's

"See, that's what you get as punishment for pushing me in Vanille."

"Oh is it really?" Vanille's smile grew to a cheeky extent now "and what's your punishment for grabbing my chest?"

Lightning turned her head, trying to move away from the topic but Vanille had suddenly laid her hands on the soldier's waist, preventing her from moving.

"I, I didn't grab your chest!" she looked nervous now, desperately trying to find an excuse.

"I grabbed your top"

"Sure you did…"

"Light, this is ok you know? This is all natural"

Vanille was teasing Lightning now, stroking her fingers slowly up and down, reaching into her jumper so her fingers touched Lightning's skin.

"No, it's not. I'm sorry"

Lightning shrugged off Vanille's grip and quickly swam to the edge of the pool and got herself up and onto the grassy terrain. She hated her clothes being wet, mainly because they were the only good outfit she had.

_Why didn't I bring more clothes with me on this journey?_

Lightning looked like a drowned rat; her hair was all out of shape, her clothes soaking and her make-up running.  
She walked abrasively over to the group who all smirked at the same time.

"No-one says a thing. I mean it!"

Snow looked at her up and down and just before he could utter a word, he felt some water splash on his face, followed immediately by a pain in his stomach – Lightning knew what he was going to say and promptly stopped him before embarrassing her.

"Right, I'm going to go and dry off in that cave over there"

Her arm swiftly pointed to the east, where a rocky outcrop lay and a small opening lay there just in view of the group's camp.

"No-one follows me. Got that? Good."

* * *

Vanille swam about in the water for a little while longer after Lightning had so quickly bolted following their recent 'exchange'

Her thoughts went immediately to Lightning, closing her eyes tight, she was almost willing them to be projected to that beautiful pink-haired female.

Vanille was always different. Growing up in Oerba meant a life of strange duty. She only had one friend in her entire village, Fang and this kept her strong during the tough times. Fang knew everything about Vanille, including the fact that she liked girls.

While almost drifting off to sleep in the water, daydreaming about Lightning she heard Fang's voice shout her name. She snapped back to life and swam over to the edge and jumped out.

"So… here's where you've been hiding. Y'know Light came out of this very same pool pretty wet not five minutes ago. What have you been up to?"

A cheeky giggle bounced across Vanille's face. "I, I pushed her in the water. And, and then she grabbed me and pushed me in with her"

"Oh" Fang laughed. "That's a bit playful for her, that can't be why she's in such a bad mood. What else happened?"

Vanille couldn't stop smiling at telling her friend this news "I kissed her!" she giggled once again.

_I know I lied, but it seems better this way. I couldn't tell her what really happened and Light started it.. could I?_

Fang looked surprised; she had not thought Vanille would be able to do such a thing. No one in their entire journey together so far had anyone laid even but a finger on Lightning without getting some sort of repercussion.

"Well done girl, what are you going to do now?"

"Well I don't know. Maybe I'll leave it a while. I wouldn't want to put too much pressure on her right now. She might get upset" Vanille could hardly bare to hold in her excitement.

"Good plan, well why don't you come and we'll get you all dried up? I'm sure Snow wouldn't mind lending you his coat for a while"

Vanille winked at Fang and clicked her fingers, intentionally causing the pool to steam and grow warmer.

"Hot tub later?" She giggled once more and walked back to the camp to dry off.

* * *

Lightning was getting comfy in the cave by herself. She had removed all her armour and clothes and wrapped herself up in the White Cape she had just purchased from the shopping station near the group's camp.

_That's 3000 gil wasted, but I'll be damned if I am going to sit in this cave naked. Thank you very much. _

In her travels she had learnt only the basic level of magic from Hope. She remembered the day when she had to approach him and ask for help.

"Eurgh" she grunted. Asking for help was not her forte.

* * *

"Hope? Erm… would you, would you be able to teach me some magic?"

"Sure Light, its easy now that we are L'Cie. Just use your emotions"

"Emotions?" Lightning pondered this for a second. Emotions were not her forte.

"Yeah look, just watch me" Hope danced on the spot, making himself happy.  
Light emerged from his fingertips and a breeze surrounded him.  
Hope formed this into a ball of energy before flinging it at the nearest wall.

"See, happiness made me cast Aero"

_Please don't say I have to dance around every time. _

"Right ok… so I just have to be happy and magic will work? Because I can't see that happening any time soon"

"No, its not just happiness. It can be when you're mad or angry or even in love"

"Ok Hope, I'm going to stick to the angry magic then. That's probably more useful in a combat situation"

* * *

_Magic… magic. Hope said I just need to get angry to make this damn fire spell work._

_Hope isn't the only one who can cast magic though, Vani-_

_Damn._

Lightning punched the ground.

_Now she's in my head. That damn pool. Why did she have to go and push me in?  
and I did __not __grab her chest. Wishful thinking by her. That's all it was._

Lightning clicked her fingers and fire erupted from them, forming a nice neat ball of warmth and light in the centre of the cave.

_Ah excellent it worked. See, Vanille is good for something after all._

She put her clothes near the fire and lay down on her side facing it. As Lightning closed her eyes to go to sleep in the warmth of the cave, her darkness was invaded by images of Vanille.

_Her. _

_She was in the pool with me, she had her hands on me, around me. _

"Eurgh" she made that sound again. That tomboy-ish semi grunt which only she could make.

_I must not let that distract me from what is really important. The mission. It's always been the mission. We are so close now. To falter would mean certain death. _

She looked down at the brand on her chest, she could swear it moves sometimes, even closing it's eye when she is tired.

_Delirium. That's all it is. _

As she started to close her eyes, the only thing Lightning could picture was Vanille's face, water dripping down that soft, peachy face of hers. Dripping onto those two pink roses sitting astride her face. Some call them lips.

"_Vanille, your fingers are touching my tummy. Why is that?"_

"_Don't be silly Light you put them there. See? Yours are drawing patterns on my lower back"_

"_Oh yes, sorry I forgot."_

Lightning heard Vanille giggle, and she closed her eyes. She pressed her lips softly up to Vanille's and Vanille massaged them gently back with her lip. Lightning knew what she was doing, and she enjoyed it.

The fire extinguished in the cave, and a smile drew across Lightning's sleeping face.


	2. The Key

_I just want to say thank you to __LightningRoxmySox__ for reviewing chapter one (and being my first ever reviewer) plus to all of those of you who are reading this. Keep reading, and keep commenting!_

_When The Glass Shatters_

_**The Key**_

The warm glow of the sun beamed in through the cave's opening, Lightning opened her eyes slowly, stretching and reaching for the cold steel of the Blaze Edge before feeling her now dry clothes.

She got dressed and walked out to the others, most were just getting up like her but Fang was wide awake, looking curiously at Lightning.

"Good night last night?" She gave a sly little wink to Lightning.

"I don't know what you're talking about Fang, I just slept in the cave"

"Oh I wasn't talking about that Light, I was talking about the pool thing with Vanille"

"Nothing happened, I don't know what you are implying Fang but stop it" She crossed her arms and sighed.

_I hope no-one heard me talking in my sleep… that kiss was amazing yet- No. I shouldn't even be thinking about that. _

_Stop it stop it stop it!_

Lightning pressed her hands against her head, shutting her eyes and trying to block out the image of her vivid dream.

Vanille gently stirred, as if being willed to wake by Lightning's thoughts. Snow gave a massive yawn while sitting up and stretching.

"Yo Sis!"

"Bloody hell Snow, trying to match Titan with that yawn? What is it?"

Snow sniggered as Vanille gently rubbed her eyes awake.

"Lips feeling a little dry this morning? I've got a girl lying next to me who would love to wet them for you"

"Grrr" Lightning growled at Snow's unpleasant comment. She walked quickly over to him.

_How did they know? Was I talking in my sleep again? If so.. who the hell came into the Cave last night?_

Lightning slapped Snow on the head. She wasn't usually one for slapping – Too girly it was decided.  
She did not however want to explain to Serah why her fiancée had a dented head after punching him with her gauntlet. Hard.

Vanille just laid there, wide awake but looking embarrassed. Her lie had been spread to too many people, and now Lightning knew.  
She could see this not ending well.

Hope and Sazh woke up when they heard the sound of Snow's head hitting Lightning's hand.

Now that everyone was awake the group decided to form a plan as to what to do next. As lovely as the Archylte Steppe was, it was vast and always full of monsters.  
Lightning suggested splitting up into pairs and exploring each corner.

"That's a good plan girl, Who's going with who? Bet you want some time alone with the lovely red-head eh?" Fang teased Lightning, winking at her again.

"Urgh" Lightning sighed. "Don't call me girl"

_Am I ever going to get away from this? One little slip and everyone suddenly becomes a court jester._

_Fang does have a point though… who's going with who. I can't pick Vanille. That would look too suspicious._

Lightning imagined a menu popping up, with the heading 'Switch Party Members' on it.

"Right, for that, Fang you're coming with me. Snow you go with Vanille and Sazh, you take Hope."

"Ah damnit" Fang clicked her fingers. "I knew there'd be some repercussion to winking too much at Lightning"

"A Mage and a Commando in every camp?" Hope questioned, looking up at Lightning.

"Yes. It's called Slash and Burn, it's a very well known Strategy. Now let's pick a direction and go"

Fang started walking north, Snow went east as Vanille bounded after him, skipping merrily and Sazh grabbed Hope's arm and they started going west.

Lightning waited, making sure everyone was acting the plan out. She happened to catch a glimpse of Vanille's swaying hips, breaking a tiny, almost unnoticeable smile across her face.

Vanille jumped, and in mid-air turned to face backwards, catching Lightning's gaze. She giggled to herself and went after Snow.

* * *

Hope shrugged off Sazh's grasp and walked with an infuriated stomp.  
Sazh laughed to himself as Hope seemed like a lion cub, trying to roar as to be intimidating – It wasn't working very well.

Hope was leaving scorched footprints with every step. Sazh could see he was angry.

"Hey look I'm sorry kiddo I didn't mean to drag you like that. It's just… we needed to get going."

Hope looked up, up at the mountain wall. He unfurled his boomerang from his back pocket and muttered 'Enfire'.  
His weapon immediately caught fire and he threw it at his intended target.  
The item dropped onto the ground below and Hope, now no longer stomping scorched prints ran over to it and picked it up.

"Look Sazh, this is what I was getting enraged about, not your arm"

"Oh" Sazh looked curious as Hope held a shimmering object in his hand "What's that?"

It was a deep crimson object, spherical but with patterns emblazoned onto it which somehow seemed familiar to the group.

"This is a key. My father used to tell me stories of an object that could harness natural magic and could be used by a non-L'Cie. I think, I think this is it"

The object emitted a light while in Hope's hands, and seemingly grew a darker crimson colour. Hope seemed to smile but then his eyes turned dull and he collapsed to the floor.

"Hope?… Hope!" Sazh shouted in desperation

He rushed over to Hope's near lifeless body, and attempted to grab the orb away from his hand. Upon touching it, Sazh's brand stung with an intensity he had never felt before.

"Ungh" Sazh groaned as he too collapsed to the floor, eyes closing and darkness creeping in.

* * *

Snow stood up on the plains of the Steppe, attempting to look for Vanille, who had run off. Snow closed his eyes to see if he could hear the clinking of Vanille's jewellery.

"'Nille? Where are you?"

"**Vanille!**"

_Hmph, where has she got to? She was just here. Light's going to kill me if I lose her girlfriend. _

Snow opened his eyes and saw a medium-sized chocobo heading straight for him.  
Before he had time to turn and run he stepped back a few paces and felt his knees cave in and he fell over something small, but hard.

"Tee-hee" A giggle came from beneath him

He had enough sense about him to look what he had fallen over, a young red-haired girl.

"Vanille? What the hell are you doing? Where were you?"

"I was only playing, thought I would surprise you. See… he had a good time too"

Vanille pointed to the chocobo that had startled Snow not moments before.  
It was doing some form of strange dance and the only noise that came from it was 'Kweh' in different patterns.  
Snow could swear he heard a faint echo of a long forgotten battle theme.

"How did you get a chocobo to do that? I know they are meant to be tame but still I've gotta say that's kinda impressive"

"Well" Vanille started "He was my pet chocobo when I lived in Oerba. I raised him from a little chick, like the one you see with Sazh. When he got too big I…"

"You had to let him go?" Snow finished her sentence; he could see this topic was upsetting the girl.

"Yeah that's it. He must have wandered to here all by himself. There are said to be a lot of Chocobos in this area so I guess he felt at home. This little guy's name is Boko"

She smiled as the chocobo came and placed its head under her hand. She ruffled his head a little, and then cuddled him.

"Right" Snow said authoritatively acting all serious. "I think we've done enough 'exploring' in this section of the Steppe so why don't we call it a day and head back to the camp?"

Vanille nodded and gave out a little 'Mmhmm' in recognition.

"Come on Boko, you'll come too won't you?"

The chocobo gave out a seemingly happy 'Kweh' and followed Vanille back to the camp.

* * *

There was only one thing on both women's minds – Vanille.

Fang was desperate to talk to Lightning about what had happened, and Lightning was desperate to avoid it.

After a few hours of awkward silence, Fang decided to break it.

"So… Was she any good?" Fang smirked with a playful glint in her eye.

"Good at **what**? Like I told you this morning, nothing has happened" Lightning put her hands on her hips and stood still.

"You know, kissing. We all heard you had a pretty steamy kiss together in the pool yesterday"

_Damn. Are my dreams becoming reality now? There must be a simpler explanation to this._

"Did anyone enter the cave I slept in last night?"

"No, I'm pretty sure no one did. I was sentry last night and no one got up… oh and before you say anything Light, no I didn't either. Why, did you have a good dream then?"

Fang could see Lightning blushing slightly, this was almost a new thing. Fang had only seen her blush once before and she remembered that it had just so been when Vanille fell over and landed on top of Lightning after running away from a Flan enemy.

"Fang, I didn't dream about anything and Vanille certainly did not kiss me yesterday"

Lightning held one hand up to her face to check if she was blushing or not. Fang gave Lightning a cheeky wink as she did.

_I'm so warm in the face. Is this how she knows? Is this how she can tell? Damn._

Lightning punched her thigh, the only surface near to her.

_Note to self. Remember to not blush._

"Well even if Vanille lied about kissing you, something happened Light, you can't deny that much. You should be flattered, she finds you attractive and I'm pretty sure deep down you feel the same about her"

"Shut up Fang, just shut up!"

Lightning turned her head, then her body and walked off northwards.

Fang laughed to herself.

"She can deny it all she wants, but eventually those feelings are going to creep out"

"Ok, you know what? There is clearly nothing here"

Lightning was getting tired of Fang's questions about her preference for men or women.

"We have been searching for most of the day and haven't found a thing. We should go back to the camp"

Lightning turned towards Fang, and started walking back to the camp. Fang gave her a playful nudge and Lightning gave a jokingly heavy push back.

"Don't worry Light, I know it's not me you fancy!"

They were just about to enter the group's camp, when Lightning spotted Snow and Vanille already there.

"You two find anything?" She said affirming her leadership among the group.

"Nope…well only this little guy" Snow pointed at the yellow, fluffy chocobo.

"He's mine Light, we're keeping him ok?" Vanille looked at Lightning and smiled, opening her eyes wide and fluttering her eyelashes a little.

"Tch, fine. As long as you look after him"

"Yay thank you Light!" Vanille was overjoyed.

Without thinking she ran to Lightning and put her arms around her, holding the pink-haired beauty tight.

Lightning closed her eyes for a second. Instinctively putting her hands on Vanille's waist.  
Smelling Vanille's perfume was a luxury she had never undertaken but for this brief moment it was beyond divine.

Lightning opened her eyes and saw both Fang and Snow looking shocked. She quickly let go of the red-haired girl and assumed her position as leader.

She cleared her throat before she spoke, getting that lump that Vanille had put in there out of it.

"Have you two seen Sazh and Hope?"

"No, not since we all set off" Snow shook his head as well as speaking.  
"I'm sure they are fine, let's give them until nightfall and then we will look for them"

"Sure. You know, that's probably one of the most sensible plans you've come up with"

She laughed and made Fang laugh with her abuse of Snow too.

_Even if we do give them a few more hours, there are still plenty of things out there that could get them. They should have been back by now._

* * *

The sun of Gran-Pulse was setting, the sky lit up with an orange and purple hue.

The crimson orb had now turned to white. The markings, once prominent in gold now turned a clear colour, almost invisible on the white background.

Sazh was paralysed, but could open one eye enough to see footsteps which came closer to the orb, heavy and masculine footsteps.

Sazh could only make out the bottom of a white and flowing coat, with black boots. He kept still while the orb was picked up. Its holder unaffected by what the orb had done to the L'Cie.

A rough and earthy voice spoke out in the near darkness of the setting sun

"The key is almost complete"


	3. The Power Within

_I just want to say that sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the previous two (and a little descriptive). It has been a crazy few days for me, and my mind has been not solely focused on writing.  
I will however say thankyou to my lovely Beta Eistee for checking it over... Thankyou. Also to those of you who are supporting me, and reviewing (much appreciated)_

_When The Glass Shatters_

_**The Power Within**_

The fire spell crackled and fizzed in the centre of the camp, it was warm enough for everyone to be comfortable around it.  
Yet there was a sense of inherent awkwardness about the group.  
This was mainly due to Vanille and Lightning who kept flicking coy glances at each other from across the fire.  
When Fang and Snow weren't looking Vanille seductively licked her lips, teasing Lightning while she could only feign displeasure at seeing anything of Vanille's tongue.

_Ok so that's her tongue, and she's running it s l o w l y around her lips. _

_Those pink, little lips…_

Lightning's eyes and mind went blank for a brief moment.

When she snapped out of it, she was glad there was not a question waiting for her.

_Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! Why does she have to tease me like that?_

_She must know what she is doing to me?_

Lightning's spine tingled, and she shuddered because of it.

_See. Damn it, now she is even making my body wander, it was bad enough with just my mind._

There was more awkwardness in the camp, it was now nightfall and Hope and Sazh still had not returned.

Snow leapt to his feet. The three females looked surprised. This was the most energy anyone had shown for almost three hours now.

"Come on ladies" He said bowing to them.

"We need to go and find the others, they haven't returned and we did say we'd go look for them"

The three girls slowly got to their feet. Fang cracked her back after sitting down for so long, while Vanille stumbled onto her feet.  
Lightning sat for a while, taking in all of Vanille with her eyes before jolting up and looking to the side, desperate to avoid anyone's gaze.

Snow uncharacteristically went marching forwards.

Followed by Lightning, then Vanille who only watched Lightning's swaying walk.

Hypnotised by her hips as they bounced from one side to the other, and then Fang was slowly walking up to Vanille's left side.

Her right side protected by the chirpy little chocobo whom they had all spent the last few hours with.

Boko gave out little 'kweh's' with almost every step by his side of Vanille, and always attempted to catch his head in her hand.

They started moving west; the direction from the camp Sazh and Hope went in, only stopping when Snow stood still and scratched his head.

"Snow? Do you know where you're going?" Lightning crossed her arms at Snow's orientation skills.

"Err well, y'see I know they went this way but apart from that… No."

Lightning sighed in perpetual disappointment of Snow. She knelt down and looked around at the area, picking up soil in her hands.

She could track Hope and Sazh, and within moments she could follow their trail.

She took the lead and ran off quickly; following a transparent trail of marks that lead her right to the collapsed bodies.

Feeling their pulse, she deducted they were barely alive.

* * *

"Yo Light, wait up!"

Snow tried keeping up with the agile soldier though after a short while she sped ahead of him.  
He slumped over, catching his breath before Fang, Vanille and the little chocobo Boko sprang up.

"Light's ran off has she?" Fang asked Snow, who was panting heavily.

"Yeah…she…has…that way" He pointed in front of him

Fang grabbed Snow's arm and led him hurriedly to Lightning who was sitting down now, watching over the two bodies she found.

* * *

Everyone looked shocked, they could not believe someone, or something could do this to two L'Cie, especially one like Hope who could wield powerful magic.

"Vanille"

Lightning said, without even looking at her, too busy focusing on the two lying on the ground.

"Could you please heal them?"

"Sure Light"

She smiled, just acknowledging that Lightning needed her right now, even if it was just for her magic.

Vanille stomped her rod on the ground, and a pale green light had emerged from the tips of her fingers, which went coursing through the rod and waved from the tips of it over to Hope and Sazh.

She had been getting good at combining magic recently, a little experiment she tried while she was bored and also a small attempt to impress Lightning.

At first she managed to make Firaero, and then Wathunder and now she was combining Esuna with Cure, or Curesuna as she would have called it.

The magic hit its intended targets and a slight whooshing noise was happening from the bodies.

Vanille looked worried.

_Did I do it wrong? Maybe they can't combine very well._

_Oh no…what if I've made a zombie spell? Eek!_

Within seconds Sazh had stirred, his once lifeless body now reaching an arm out into the air.

"Hey good to see you're back among the living old man."

Snow laughed after he said this, teasing Sazh, or anybody for that matter was a favourite pastime of his.

"Ungh" Sazh attempted to sit up, but did not have the energy to do so.

His brand did not hurt him anymore, yet there was a deep aching all over his body.

Hope stirred after this; he too raised his arm in the air.

He had enough energy to turn his head and see his companion lying on the floor next to him, in the same condition.

"Did you… ungh. Did you touch it too?"

"Yeah kid… I don't know, I don't care what the hell that thing unlocks it sure did a number on us."

Sazh coughed, unhealthily.

Lightning looked worried.

"What? You found an object?"

_If one object could do this, are there others out there like it?_

"Yeah… ungh."

Sazh coughed again.

"Hope found it, touched it and then… passed out. I tried to grab it off him and then… I blacked out too."

"Although… I saw someone. He picked it up and just walked off, unfazed."

_What? _

Lightning pondered this new revelation for a brief moment.

_What the hell is going on?_

* * *

"Heh, the power this contains even at this level of completion is outstanding."

The white-coated man stood tall, his shoulder-length but spiky silver-blue hair waved in the wind of the Vallis Media.

_Then again, they __are__ L'Cie. The most powerful creatures on the whole of Pulse._

His piercing electric blue eyes glinted with a tint of excitement at the possibilities this orb, this 'key' could hold at this present moment.

He held the Key in his hand, stretched his arm out and instantly swords of varying size, shape and weight surrounded him.

He stared at the one closest to him and it weaved and flayed as if he was wielding it.

Looking at all the swords next, they too attacked the invisible air around him.

"This ability could come in quite useful when completing it."

The white-coated man laughed malevolently, before a white light surrounded him and he vanished instantly.

* * *

The group had returned to the camp now, Lightning and Snow had carried Sazh while Fang rested Hope on Boko's back.

Resting the two injured party members was priority one, while figuring out who Sazh had seen, and what object they had touched a close second.

It was very late now, and the Pulsian sun started to seep into the sky.

The group decided to rest, and then get a fresh start the next morning.

Well most of the group decided to rest. Lightning went into the cave she had slept in only a few nights ago to sit and think in relative peace and quiet.

Fang and Vanille were outside, watching the fire spell flicker and tease, enrapturing them whenever they looked at it.

"Look girl, she's in there…all alone. The girl you want is in that cave"

Fang tried to cheer Vanille up, she wanted the youngest girl to stop feeling sorry for herself and do something about her feelings.

"But, but what if she doesn't want me? I don't want to get rejected."

"She will want you, trust me. I've seen the way she looks at you and how she held you. She wants you too Vanille, she, she just needs some prompting that's all."

Vanille got up, slowly and handed all of her jewellery to Fang.

She only had on just her regular outfit, that short little top which showed off her midriff and that just as short skirt which Lightning had secretly eyed up on more than one occasion.

Vanille crept into the cave, trying her usual sneaky approach to get as close as possible to Lightning without her noticing once again.

After a few steps, however she saw the Lightning was laid down in the cave, and resting on her jacket as a pillow, she was fast asleep.

This was the first time she had seen Lightning asleep and Vanille thought that she couldn't get any cuter right now.

Her lips were closed, but a slight smile braced across her face, and her cheeks were a little rosy from clearly blushing in her sleep.

Lightning's hair was not the usual perfect shape that Vanille had seen in the daytime, yet it was messy and some strands covered that beautiful face making Vanille smile.

_Maybe she's dreaming about me? Tee-hee! That would be so cute!_

Vanille lay down beside the beautiful Miss Farron, propping herself up on her elbow to overlook her.

She placed her hand softly on the soldier's stomach, drawing light patterns with her fingers careful not to wake Lightning up.

Vanille could see she liked it as a smile drew upon Lightning's face. She leant in and wet her lips with her tongue before placing them softly on Lightning's now semi-parted pair.

The red-headed girl reverted to her position propped up on her elbow; a small but ecstatic smile ran across her face as Vanille realised all her feelings in one single kiss.

Even if Lightning did not know anything about it, she could now say that she was content.

She lay down, tight into Lightning's warm body with her hand still resting on the soldier's stomach.

Closing her eyes, Vanille was the happiest she had been in a long time.

_Hee-hee now all Light needs to do is kiss me back._

With that, she fell asleep.


	4. Vogh

_Hello one and all again. New chapter for your continued patronage. Bit of a different chapter than previous ones but I hope you all like it nonetheless. I got back into focusing so this one should be similar in content-quality to the first couple._

_Thanks again to my regular beta Eistee._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**_Vogh_**

An instant flash of pure white and the white-coated man stood atop the tall mountains of the Faultwarrens, overlooking Adamantoise and Long Gui alike as if they were ants.

'_To any who holds the Key, so shall it be that they will transcend'_

The man remembered this phrase read from a book he had stolen, which set him on the path to find this key.

_What did transcend even mean? What would happen once I did?_

These questions and more flooded his thoughts. He needed to complete the Key, yet did not want the L'Cie to gain its power. A tricky situation indeed.

_I would need to fight them, one at a time and allow the Key to absorb their power that way._

_Yes, that is the best way to complete it._

He spent a lot of time initially planning; He was alone and without backup.

He did not need it however, physically fit and strong, almost super human originally and now the Key amplified his inherent abilities while enhancing new ones.

His feet drew apart, arms clutched tight towards his body, concentrating hard on the task at hand.

Releasing the multitude of ethereal swords around him once again, he began to practice with them.

Wielding one at a time, they were weightless yet acted as if he was holding them.

The first sword, an archaic single-bladed gunblade swung swiftly in mid-air. The man focused and the trigger is pulled, firing a shot while swinging.

Others then started to swing, two, three then all twelve at once. This ability was mastered after a matter of minutes. All the weapons could be handled with ease.

"Excellent" He thought to himself.

"I can feel the power of the Key flowing through me."

"Those swords are impressive boy"

A feminine voice broke the still silence like needles.

The man looked around, unable to see anyone, anyone at all.

A white flash a second later and a woman stood before him.

She was young, thin and curvy, an atypical female shape in this Pulsian world. She had long blonde hair, yet a single streak of light blue ran down her entire left side and she had steely-green eyes.

She wore a single sash of onyx-coloured cloth around her chest, which split into two sashes showing her cleavage slightly.

A deep, dark navy blue jacket covered her arms and the rest of her torso, and she wore matching coloured tight trousers.

She wore four belts; two around her right thigh and two around her stomach which held her weapon; a single dual-split sword of pure white made from a fusion of Trapezohedron and Adamantium.

"Now now, don't look so shocked. Do you really think I would let you walk off with my Key?"

"**Yours?**"

He shouted angrily at the pretentious woman, this was his Key; he had been following it for years.

"This is mine; I have been locating it. I am the one who found it"

The icy woman laughed hard.

"Don't be such a fool. I let you find that book and allowed you to find the actual Key for me. You have been doing all my lackey work"

She clicked her fingers and instantly the Key had vanished from the man's hand and into the woman's. Upon touch it materialised into an exact replica of her sword.

"See? This is how you know it's mine my dear."

"Ungh"

The man grunted, he was furious now. His time had been wasted, and his power gone.

"What's your name boy? Maybe I'll spare your life seeing as how you kept the Key in such good condition for me"

"My name is Vogh. What is your name?"

She laughed again, maliciously poking fun at the man every chance she could.

"My name is of no concern, for you will not live long. Just know me as Death"

She ran forwards, the replica weapon in her right hand and she drew her real weapon as she was running, holding it in an alternative manner in the left.

As she swung, she spun around. Both swords coming into contact with Vogh's arm, cutting it deep and making him bleed.

* * *

The full blaze of the sun now shone in the sky, the group of L'Cie had all slept through morning light.

Boko was outside of the cave and gave loud and long 'Wark' noises, crowing at the light of day.

Inside the cave Vanille had just opened her eyes; she was on her back with one arm on Lightning's shoulder while the pink-haired woman had seemingly cuddled up to her during sleep.

Vanille didn't want to move, in fact she couldn't move as Lightning's body was almost on top of hers.

She looked down and saw that one of Lightning's thighs had interlocked with Vanille's own and was situated very high up, close to the middle of her legs.

_Oh…erm what do I do now? I can't just wait for Light to wake up. She's going to kill me when she sees this!_

Vanille had no option, it was either lay there and get told off, or do something and get told off.

She saw that Lightning's head was resting softly on her chest, moving slowly up and down with every breath the little red-head took.

With her free arm she took a soft hold of Lightning's chin and lifted her head up slightly. She did her best to lean down and awkwardly kissed Lightning's forehead – the only place she could reach.

Lightning's eyes shot open with that form of loving contact and with her own muster her head was lifted up.

"Va-, Vanille? What's going on?"

She looked up at the girl while slightly moving her body, realising exactly what position she was in.

"I checked on you last night, and then slept here. What happened after that Light was all your own doing"

She giggled a little while enjoying looking down at Lightning's face, especially her blushing cheeks and her pink little lips, those perky beautifully shaped things which she had the pleasure of kissing the night before.

"Hmph. Well let's not mention this…and just keep it between us ok?"

Lightning crept up on her hands and knees and had Vanille underneath her.

Vanille just smiled, watching Lightning's body move in a more intimate notion than she had seen before.

"Ok Light sure, just us"

_But…that doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of fun now does it Miss Lightning?_

Her hand slid up Lightning's naked thigh and onto her waist while her other hand placed itself softly on her face.

"Vanille. What, what are you doing?"

Lightning could have moved away any second, but her body almost seemed to refuse her mind.

Her heart was beating fast and she licked her lips involuntarily.

_What's happening to me? A few slight touches and it's as if I have been hypnotised by her. Now she's going to think that I __want__ to kiss her. Although…_

Without any further thought the young red-haired girl's head came up to Lightning's and she pressed her lips hard against those that she had kissed last night.

They tasted the same, and it was better this time around, now she was getting a response back.

Feeling more comfortable with her present situation, Lightning's hand wandered up Vanille's thigh, bringing it up onto her bum.

Vanille knew exactly what to do; she gently wrapped that leg around the pink-haired beauty's waist, and then followed with her other leg.

Lightning allowed her body to be pushed down, and gently sunk into a blissful moment of interlocked lips and bodies, not having to think about anything apart from the sweet taste of fruit from Vanille's lips.

* * *

Light seemingly came from the woman's blades with every swing, illuminating the sky.

Vogh jumped backwards, dodging her second attack just in time and kneeling on the ground. As his blood dropped on the ground, in front of him stood the single-bladed gunblade he had summoned when the Key was in his possession.

Another drop of blood fell, and another until he had three ethereal swords at his command.

"What? What's this?"

* * *

All of the group were up, Vanille and Lightning were in the cave, but everyone knew not to go and wake up their leader for fear of reprisal.

Snow sat up and looked straight at Fang.

"You don't think that they're… y'know, 'getting it on' in there do ya?"

Fang laughed, the thought of that excited her, especially seeing as how she had effectively created the situation by egging on Vanille last night.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows. They could be harmlessly sleeping for all we know"

This time Snow laughed.

"If they're sleeping then I'm Father Frost – the present giver"

On those words a sudden flash of light came from the south-east of the group's camp.

There were many flashes; one, two then five in a row.

Something was going on just out of sight and it was something big.

The group looked worried.

"We've gotta go get Light. There's no other choice. She'll know what to do"

Snow looked at Fang, cautiously.

"You do it. You're a girl so it won't be as bad if you go interrupt them"

"Damnit Snow, it's not like it's the bathroom!"

Fang marched off into the cave, a few steps into her walk she heard laughing coming from the boys of the group.

_Damn men! Always mocking._

A few steps away from the cave she could hear heavy breathing of some sort, and soft, docile moans from what seemed to be Vanille's voice.

"Err Light? If you're awake we really need you right now. There's an emergency"

She could hear the shuffling of clothes being put on. She smiled at the fact she had caught them out somewhat.

"Yeah. I'll, I'll be out in a minute"

* * *

The woman looked shocked, almost afraid now.

"This wasn't supposed to happen. Once the Key leaves possession its abilities leave too"

Vogh smirked and looked up. This news gave him a sense of courage as he jumped into the sky and threw one of the swords at the woman.

Vogh caught her chest, dropping something onto the ground, and as he landed he wielded the other two swords and swung them violently at the woman as all she could do was block and lock him close.

"Maybe I'm just…different"

* * *

Lightning ran out of the cave, looking a bit ruffled. Her clothes were not on properly and her cheeks seemed flushed.

"What is it Fang, this better be damn important"

"We saw some flashes of light high over the mountains. It was pretty irregular"

Lightning's flushed cheeks now dropped their entire colour. She seemed angry now.

"You woke me up for lights? Damnit Fang. It was probably just Thunder"

"S-sorry girl. To be fair I think you were already up. It wasn't thunder either, no noise y'see"

Fang regretted that sentence. This was not the time to joke around Lightning.

Lightning looked up at the sky.

"See? No lights anymore. Problem solved. I'm going back into the cave"

_Damn. Can't I get just five minutes of peace?_

* * *

Vogh grinned, and he summoned his thrown sword to sweep her legs away, making her fall to the ground while he pinned her down with his other ethereal blades.

"Heh, you weren't so mighty for the 'owner' of the Key"

He went to slash and kill her but before his blades could reach her neck she clicked her fingers and white light came upon her.

When Vogh opened his eyes again she was gone.

* * *

Fang walked solemnly back to the group.

"She aint helping us out guys. Says the light's all gone so we don't need to worry any more"

"Well that part is technically true"

Sazh got up to his feet now and looked up at the sky, judging the situation.

"If I'm correct the light came from the Faultwarrens. Why don't we go check it out?"

"How do you expect us to face up to the monsters in there? They are meant to be powerful"

Snow looked at Sazh. Usually Snow would have been up for running into an ill-conceived plan. Yet when he would be up against powerful opponents his head kicked into gear.

"Look we'll be fine. We've got all of us to help out and if we come into a pinch, we can use our eidolons."

Fang nodded, and on seeing this small sign of confirmation Snow seemed reassured that everything would be ok. Hope too nodded in agreement of the plan.

"Boko, you've gotta stay there and protect Vanille ok?"

Sazh talked to the chocobo as if he was an adult version of the chick nestled in his hair.

The chocobo bobbed its head and gave out a loud 'Kweh' in response.

The four L'Cie left Boko, Lightning and Vanille and headed off in search of the mysterious flashes of light.

* * *

Vogh knelt down picked up the object he had cut off earlier. It was a pair of dog tags.

"Was she a soldier? She didn't wear any armour or uniform"

He pondered this question while looking at the object.

They were shiny dog tags, almost new. The only writing on them was a name; engraved on them that stated the word _'Freya'._


	5. Amour et Douleur

_Hello all. I'm sorry this is a late (and slightly shorter) chapter. It has been a crazy few days in my life and so I haven't been able to properly get on the task of writing until today.  
Anyhow, this chapter is done and I should be back to normal scheduling now too._

_Once again thankyou to my lovely Beta Eistee, and also thankyou to all of you who read this little fiction. Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who review...I do read them all, just don't comment on them so I do appreciate your personal little messages for each chapter, so keep them coming!_

_And finally... special competition time. For chapter 8 or 9 (haven't really decided yet) YOU, the readers will get to decide the rough framework of what happens for that particular chapter.  
When I post up the next chapter (so you'll have 6 chapter's worth of story to go on) I will post a poll onto my profile with a list of options for you to vote on the outcome of that particular chapter, and ultimately influence the story._

_Feel free to Private Message (PM) me with suggestions too. Thankyou all, RT._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Amour et Douleur**

Vanille had grabbed Lightning's neck, forcing her lips onto Lightning's parted pair kissing them a multitude of times, both females getting completely lost in the moment.

They had not even noticed that the other L'Cie had wandered off, leaving them alone.

"KWEH!"

A loud, chocobo-sized noise came from outside the cave.

Lightning tried to stand up, but Vanille had firm hold of the soldier, kissing her lips and neck again and again tempting Lightning to stay where she was.

"Vanille, we have to go see what Boko is crowing at"

"Nah, let the others sort it out…stay with me a little longer"

The red-haired girl had a hold of Lightning's thighs, determined to make her stay

"Come on Vanille please, be fair. We have been doing this all night. It's been lovely though. I wouldn't have traded it for anything else"

Lightning grabbed a hold of Vanille's hands, and lay them down on the girl's stomach.

She bent down one last time and kissed the girl's lips, grinding up against her letting her know she would return.

The soldier shrugged off her sentimental side which she had embraced for too long a period and got to her feet.

Rushing out of the cave she saw no-one except the little yellow bird rushing around and flapping its wings in fright.

_Where the hell are the others? They surely would have told us if they were going somewhere. _

"Kweh!"

The chocobo gave out another noise and Lightning looked up.

She saw a flash and immediately jumped to her side, narrowly dodging a lightning bolt.

_Now I know what's got the chocobo all worked up_.

She ran for the cave again, dodging lightning with virtually every step.

_I've never seen anything like this, this kind of weather cannot be normal. No rain or wind…just lightning._

As she reached the entrance for the cave again, she took a few steps in and saw the woman she had just been intimate with laying on her side, red cloth wrapped around her body.

"See.. knew you'd come back soon."

She smiled softly and ran her fingers up her leg, lifting a piece of the cloth covering her body up higher showing a little piece of her brand off, teasing Lightning.

Lightning had lain down beside the red-haired girl and they stated to kiss once more.

With every wave of emotion flooding over their bodies the sparks of lightning showered the outside of the cave.

Lightning pulled away and tested a theory. The weather stopped.

She kissed Vanille again and a spark rained down outside.

She immediately blushed.

_Damn. _

"What's wrong?"

Vanille could see the worried expression on Lightning's face.

"It was us. We have been causing the lightning outside. We were too wrapped up in ourselves to recognise when our magic had slipped away from us"

"But…but that's not really a bad thing is it? We were enjoying ourselves Cla-"

Vanille had put her own hand over her mouth to stop her saying Lightning's real name.

"You know not to call me that Vanille. You know it."

"I know. I'm so sorry beautiful"

She had got on her knees and wrapped her arms around Lightning's neck. The pink-haired woman was sitting up, tense and angry.

Vanille had attempted to kiss Lightning's neck, and tilt her head in order to kiss Lightning's lips yet the soldier was like a stone. She did not move.

"If we had been causing the lightning, then what were you doing while I was outside of the cave? It was still going on then."

A wave of cold came over the soldier, various thoughts raced through her mind.

"Am I…Am I not good enough for you? You have to do it yourself?"

"No, not at all."

She was kissing Lightning's neck even more so now, sobbing slightly every time she did.

"You… you did that for me. It was the after-shock. It was all you"

Lightning had tilted her head slightly and kissed Vanille gently on the lips. She wanted to make everything right between them.

Lightning didn't want to lose this crazy and messed-up yet so rewarding thing she had with Vanille.

* * *

Fang, Sazh and Hope had been following Snow's (poor) directional skills in search of the direction of the flashes of sudden, white light they had all seen not too long ago.

Fang knew that Snow was not a good tracker; she had seen it with her own eyes not too long ago.

Yet she allowed Snow to take up this mantle as she knew it was an important thing for him; to be seen as a commanding leader.

Every so often she would help him out by pointing in a certain direction. She knew exactly where they were meant to be going and that they would be approaching it very shortly.

"Sazh… this guy you saw. What'd he look like?"

Fang wanted to check exactly who would they be coming up against so as to not mistake anyone.

_Snow attacked someone mistakenly once, damn fool. He almost froze that poor guy, just because he had the same clothes on as that thief who stole Vanille's item pouch._

_He'll never live that down…partly because I'm not going to let him._

"He had big black boots and a long white coat on, black trousers and that's all I saw of him really. I was almost passed out on the floor at the time."

"That's good. Just checking that's all. Thanks Sazh."

Snow looked back at Fang and she pointed slightly east of his position. He turned around so he was walking backwards. He winked at her in gratitude and trudged on, blindly walking.

"Snow! **Look out!**"

Fang screamed at him and tried to run at him to push him out of the way in time.

She failed.

A sword came out of the sky from nowhere. It sliced down Snow's back and left him drop onto his knees, then crumple onto the floor.

Laying there unable able to move, his back a bloody mess. Snow was in immense pain.

The group looked around to see where the sword had come from. Nothing could be seen.

The day was clear, and no one was around to do such a heinous act.

"Snow!"

Fang ran over to the idiot lying on the floor, half dead.

"Damn we can't do this. We need Vanille's composite magic. Hope, Sazh you two go and get her. I'll stay here and look after him."

"But what if you get attacked too? Then you'll be just as bad as him, we aren't gonna know if you do or not."

Sazh had a hold of Hope's arm, ready to grab him and run back to the camp.

"Then she'll have two people to heal up, wont she? Go now!"

Sazh and Hope ran off as fast as they could, time was of the essence here.

_Damn… who could have done this? He needs to be alright, He __will__ be alright. Vanille will get here soon and…and heal him._

* * *

Vogh had clutched the dog tags tight. He was high up on the cliff but wasted no time in deciding what to do next.

He was furious at that woman for using him. Without the key in his current possession he could not achieve his plans.

_Was Freya her real name? Or just a code-name? What organisation was she working for? If any?_

These questions plagued the man's thoughts. Yet he knew who exactly he needed to seek out next.

A click of his fingers later and that familiar white light had surrounded him.

Instantly he had appeared in the middle of a plain, he looked around and recognised it immediately.

_Why was she still here? She should have moved on by now. _

A flash of blue-white light had appeared in the sky above him.

Vogh held his hand high in the air. The bolt hit his hand and it collected into the form of a small ball of energy.

He admired it briefly, dancing and flickering in his palm before throwing it at the pile of rocks in front of him.

"Knock, knock"

* * *

As a natural leader Lightning wasn't one to usually take commands, yet Vanille had told her to be quiet at this very moment.

She moved her entire body on top of Lightning's and proceeded to kiss the pink-haired beauty in an attempt to displace her hair again; that look that Vanille thought was ultimately cute.

After a few short kisses, Vanille delved into a longer one running her fingers through Lightning's hair while she felt the soldier's fingers wander playfully over her brand.

A sudden rumble forced them both to stop.

They heard the faint voice outside;

"Knock, knock"

Lightning pushed Vanille aside but held her face softly.

"Stay here, don't come out."

Lightning whispered to the red-haired innocence sitting in front of her.

She grabbed the cold metal of her Blaze Edge and flicked it out to become a sword.

Walking out of the cave she was both scared and nervous; two emotions she was never accustomed to.

_It couldn't be him. He was dead. He __is__ dead. I saw it with my own eyes._

A glint of sun had hit her weapon, flashing ahead of her it illuminated a white coat, black boots and the rest of the outfit she instantly recognised, and would never forget.

"Even the love you make is reflected back into your code-name. I presume that all those bolts were yours?"

"I am not the little girl you used to know. I have become a L'Cie now. Do not underestimate me"

"Oh, I know that you've gained a few new tricks my dear Claire. Or should I call you Soldier 0194? As that was your number wasn't it?

"Shut up, just shut up!"

Lightning was angry now. A flood of emotions were flooding her mind; love and lust for that girl back in the cave and Anger, frustration and shock at the man stood in front of her.

_It was true, I __was__ Soldier 0194 back in the Corps, but no longer. I am now the Pulse L'Cie Lightning Farron._

She branded her sword at him.

"What do you want Vogh Ourea? Why have you come back from the dead?"

"I never died Claire; I was just given a new life. What you saw was a human dying and a deity being born."

"Besides…Is that anyway to talk to your former superior officer?"


	6. Veritas

_Hello one and all, sorry this is late-ish again. I've had a bit of a hectic week as well as a mini-writers block._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Veritas**

Sazh broke out to a run, desperately trying to reach Vanille, and the camp as quickly as possible.

Hope was lagging behind, his shorter legs unable to run as fast as Sazh's adult legs could.

"Hurry up kid, we've gotta get to Vanille"

"I know, I know. I'm running as fast as I can"

Hope attempted to run a little faster, and for a brief while it worked. Ultimately he slowed down, unable to keep up the pace.

A little further on Sazh could see the camp in the distance. He immediately stopped.

Hope had finally managed to catch up to him.

"Why did you stop?"

"Look"

Sazh had pointed to the camp, specifically to the point where Vogh; the man that had picked the Key up after they had collapsed was standing.

"It's him he's here. That guy I saw after we collapsed. He's standing in front of Lightning"

Sazh ran towards the camp, quickening his pace while Hope; who had managed to rest in the brief moment they had stopped and was able to keep up with Sazh this time.

* * *

Lightning stood outside the cave, her gunblade pointed towards the man who stood in front of her.

"What do you want Vogh? There's nothing I can help you with"

"Oh, but there is. You see I remember how good you are at combat and I need your…help with a little problem I've come across just lately."

"I'm not helping you with anything. I left the corps remember? From the look of it you have too. I'll happily show you my combat skills first hand though."

Lightning swung her sword once more, gripping it tightly before charging her former commander.

As she neared him she dragged her sword along the ground and swung it up into him.

She had expected him to dodge backwards, as he was seemingly unarmed.

He just stood there however, and she felt herself stop as if being blocked by something.

A moment later a sword seemed to appear out of the ether, blocking her sword.

She jumped backwards, and upon landing she saw two other swords appear next to it.

"What the? You aren't a L'Cie. How are you doing this?"

Sazh had arrived at the camp, Hope trailing slightly behind.

He immediately ran over to Lightning.

"Light…He's the guy I saw after I touched the Key."

Lightning looked a little startled at this news.

"Ah yes, the Key. You wanted to know how these swords have appeared, well that is how. It gave me some of its power before it was stolen away from me"

"Stolen? How did you even know of its existence in the first place? How did you know what it could do?"

Lightning quizzed the man in front of her.

She was confused; he had been her former commander, her most trusted representative and now here he was, stood in front of her and had admitted to hurting her new-found companions.

Vogh explained his story to Lightning, Hope and Sazh.

Only Lightning seemed easy around him, whereas Hope and Sazh were always on a steady caution.

Sazh had his hands by his side, ready to draw his weapon if anything slightly suspicious went down.

"Light, Snow was hurt… really bad. We need Vanille to heal him, that's why we came back"

The soldier was calmer than most at this news. A lot of strange things had happened lately, not only with the others but inside herself too.

"Ok, go and get her and then leave. We can't lose anyone on this journey"

"What attacked him?"

Vogh spoke up, wary of his current company being hostile towards him.

"A sword. It flashed down so quickly but sliced him clean."

Hope stood next to Lightning and spoke out to the man who had severely paralyzed him not too long ago while Sazh went into the cave and grabbed Vanille.

"Hmm interesting. It certainly wasn't me. So it must have been her."

"Who is 'her'?"

Vogh threw the dog tags to Lightning and she too saw the engraving of a name marked upon them.

"I fought the woman whose dog tags you hold recently; she's the one who stole that Key away from me. Every time I hit her blade flashes of light appeared"

A wave of understanding came over Hope. Those had been the flashes him and the others were following.

"Light, Light, that's what we all saw. We followed those flashes and then Snow got attacked"

Vogh walked up to Lightning, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"She has attacked your friends, and has attacked me too. Help me fight her. I managed to beat her on my own, but together we can finish her"

Lightning pondered this idea for a while. It seemed like a strategic plan, the enemy of your enemy is your friend and she had no personal reason to distrust her former commander"

"Ok. We will all journey to Snow's location, heal him and then figure out exactly what to do next."

Vanille came bouncing out of the cave, followed by Sazh. She was all dressed now, and fully prepared, yet the scene she saw coming out of the cave had been a rather gloomy one.

Everyone was standing still, and everyone was in a solemn mood. She saw the new, broad figure of Vogh standing next to Lightning and a little bit of jealously crept in.

Wandering over to Lightning slowly, she made sure to sway her hips consciously, making Lightning look solely at her.

"Ok, now that everyone is here. Vogh is not a threat to this party, and will be travelling with us for a short while. Our next port of call is Snow's location so that Vanille-"

She pointed to Vanille at this moment, who smiled and gave a small, flirty wink back.

"Will heal Snow, and then once the others are brought up to speed we can discuss our next plan"

Everyone nodded and Hope, Sazh and the little chocobo Boko went out in front, leading the party's way back to Snow and Fang.

Vogh then went just behind them, always avoiding Sazh's constant turning around and glaring gaze.

Lightning and Vanille went last. The red-haired girl was desperate for some more time alone with Lightning, but for now this semi-public display would have to do.

She walked very closely next to Lightning, wanting to place her arm around the pink-haired beauty's waist but she knew all too well that Lightning would not approve.

Instead she dragged Lightning down a little and whispered in her ear:

"Hello you…missed me?"

Lightning's spine received a shiver at those words coming from Vanille's sweet mouth.

In fact, anything Vanille had said recently made Lightning break a sly smile.

Briefly Lightning whispered back, keeping her eyes on the others moving forwards who hadn't noticed the pair of women had stopped.

"Of course. I always miss you"

Vanille smiled, and Lightning gave her a small kiss, half on her cheek and half on her lips.

They walked onwards, not trying to catch up with the others, but moving nonetheless so they didn't get caught out.

As they walked on Vanille felt fingers make patterns along her back.

She didn't look to see who was doing so, as she knew exactly who it was.

Instead she just merrily walked on; enjoying the attention and trying to figure out what letters were being spelled out.

Eventually she figured it out, as they kept repeating in a pattern.

I-A-M-G-O-I-N-G-T-O-K-I-S-S-Y-O-U.

She stopped, and tingles ran over her.

As Lightning stopped too and turned to kiss Vanille's lips, Sazh shouted down the party:

"There's Snow. Quickly…get to him"

Both women stopped what they were about to do, and looked up.

They gave a smile to one another, acknowledging that they would continue this later and everyone sprinted towards Fang, who was kneeling down beside Snow desperately trying to heal him.

Her cure spells were only healing him a little. Fang was not good at magic and so the best she could do with her spells was to make him comfortable.

Vanille rushed over to Snow's bloody, near lifeless body and attempted to conjure up her 'Curesuna' spell she had used previously on Hope and Sazh.

It happened exactly the same as before, and she noted how her charge time had decreased slightly than before.

She flung the ball of green magic at Snow. Everyone could hear his bones crack back into place and skin zip together and heal.

This was one of the worst parts about magic; the spells were easy to do, yet the effects were all too natural and devastatingly horrible.

Snow winced as he came back into the land of the living.

"Hey you ok there you idiot?"

Fang looked at Snow and he grabbed her hand in recognition of keeping him company.

She smiled and held his hand in hers.

"Right, now that Snow is getting better we'll rest up for the night. No one is to attack anyone else. As I said, Vogh is not a threat. We'll all sleep in separate tents to make sure of that"

The party set up a fire in the middle of the camp, and seven tents were set up in a circular manner around the fire.

Each person went into their own tent, and Hope cast a protective barrier over the whole campsite.

Almost instantly everyone fell asleep. No one was on guard duty tonight, and so a mischievous red-haired girl managed to creep out of her tent and into Lightning's.

Hovering over the pink-haired beauty for a moment, she thought about waking her yet decided to climb softly on top of her and press her lips up against Lightning's, massaging them until Lightning stirred and opened her eyes.

* * *

The dark-clothed, blonde-haired woman sat atop a rock.

She could only think about one thing – why the Key had granted powers to that man.

In all the documents she had read it was never supposed to do such a thing.

It was merely supposed to drain magic from the L'Cie and the holder of the Key gained its benefits while still in possession.

She recounted her own experience with the object, it had transformed into a replica of her sword.

It had not granted her any magic however.

She was confused.

_Were the documents lying? Is this thing untested? What the hell does transcend mean?_

All of these questions she did not have the answers to, yet knew the organisation did.

They had given her this mission, they had asked her to retrieve this orb – and be careful with it or the cost would be dear.

She took off her jacket and looked at her right arm.

On her wrist was the pulsian symbol for '5', a tattoo branded on her by them on her initiation.

She glanced at her wrist, and then at her sword. It too had the symbol for '5' on it.

Each weapon was custom-made and tailored to the individual, yet branded in case of death.

No other marks appeared on her body, she was clean of all identification.

Just the way the organisation wanted it.

* * *

"_Come in Freya. Are you there Freya?"_

"_Yes, I am responsive Director"_

"_Have you obtained the object?"_

"_Yes, it is in my possession as we speak"_

"_Good. Return it to base immediately. We need to extract it"_

"_It is not complete Director. I was not the first to find it"_

"_Oh? Who did find it?"_

"_Two L'Cie. It worked as expected but then someone else picked it up"_

"_Someone else?"_

"_Yes, he was not a L'Cie. He seemed to be human yet…"_

"_Yet?"_

"_Yet he gained an ability from it Sir…after I took it off of him."  
"He bested me in combat with the ability"_

"_I see. Return to base as directed. Over and out."_


	7. Burning Desire

_Ok so here's the long awaited next chapter. First of all apologies that this is slightly shorter, and an absolute age since the last one. Things have been crazy and I have had a slight technical issue too which didn't help matters much. _

_I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I have a plan for the last half of the story which starts with this chapter and so if it seems a bit 'hunh?' at times then all shall be revealed soon. _

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Burning Desire**

Vanille hovered over the now slightly awake Miss Farron.

She moistened her lips and kissed passionately the woman lying beneath her.

Lightning, although only half-awake enjoyed the embrace of the red-haired girl sitting astride her.

The pair of females stole kisses in Lightning's tent throughout the night until daylight started to seep into the tent.

Boko crowed his 'Kweh' noises at the first sign of the morning light.

"You best go darling. We don't want to get caught red-handed just now"

Lightning stroked the face of her secret lover and kissed her once more.

Vanille exited the tent and Lightning saw flashes of her stroking Boko's head on the way out, making him coo in appreciation.

Lightning placed her arms behind her head and rested upon them.

She licked her lips and tasted the strawberries ever present on the lips of Vanille.

_It's almost as if they bloom there. _

She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, concentrating hard on every little pout, and every flick of that tongue and every hot breath that Vanille had emitted over the course of the evening.

She licked her lips once again, knowing that she may not be able to taste those strawberries for a very long time and sat up.

Walking out of her tent she saw no one. Unworried by this she paced around the tents, trying to hear if anybody was stirring at all.

All Lightning could hear were the snores of the various men in the group and the soft breathing of Fang.

What did worry her was the fact that she couldn't hear Vanille at all.

Lightning brushed the front of Vanille's tent away with her hand and peered inside.

There was no-one in the tent. Lightning started to get anxious now. The barrier was up around the camp so there was no where for her to go.

_Damnit. Where did she go? Wait…I saw her scratch the chocobo's head. _

Lightning walked over to Boko and touched his head too.

He once again coo'd after getting attention.

Lightning's eyes forcibly closed and she could feel her head rush slightly as if she was moving.

As soon as she felt her eyes weren't being locked down she opened them.

_I'm definitely not in the Steppe anymore. _

Looking around she saw not green, but white. As far as she could see.

Physical white snow surrounded her and that was all that did.

Some footprints led off from her position.

_Are these Vanille's? They must be!_

She rushed off in the direction of the prints, trudging over the snow.

Running for a little while she came to the collapsed body of Vanille, laying face up in the snow.

"Vanille? Vanille!"

Lightning held up Vanille's face and propped it onto her legs.

Kneeling down she kissed Vanille's lips and inadvertently a cure spell passed from Lightning's lips to Vanille's.

The red-haired girl breathed a warm breath once again, and that rosy colour which Lightning had been fond of returned to her face.

Looking up at the equally rose coloured cheeks of Lightning, Vanille looked almost shocked.

"Eurgh…what, what happened?"

"I don't know. You disappeared from the camp so I came to find you."

Vanille smiled at hearing the soft tones of emotion in Lightning's voice.

"I think you touched Boko's head and then vanished. So I did the same…I couldn't let you wander off now could I?"

Although she loved the position of her head right now Vanille got up onto her knees and wobbled slightly as she did so.

Lightning grabbed her arms and steadied the red-haired girl.

Vanille purposely wobbled once more, and fell into Lightning's arms.

Not ready for the weight, she fell backwards, and Vanille had Lightning exactly where she wanted her – underneath and unable to do anything.

Lightning's body was getting colder by the second surrounded by all the snow, although the prospect of fooling around now was tempting she would prefer it somewhere warmer.

Kissing Vanille's strawberry lips just once she pushed her to the side and stood up.

Grabbing Vanille's hand and pulling her up Lightning looked around the landscape; nothing had changed since she last looked, snow was all around them.

"We need to make a plan; first we need to find out where we are then"

"Then we'll get out of here right Light?"

Vanille finished Lightning's sentence, and was expecting a backlash of fury directed at her, yet it never came.

Lightning just rolled her eyes instead, while giving a slow smile in a slight appreciative tone.

"Yeah we'll get out of here, back to the others"

Vanille pointed to her east, when in fact this had been a random direction.

"That way. We should go that way"

Lightning didn't like taking orders, but on this rare occasion the direction Vanille pointed towards was as good as any.

"Ok sure. Let's go"

The two women trailed off to the east in a slow, mildly depressing walk.

There was only snow around them as far as they could see; similar surroundings haunted their entire vision.

"Light… we err we kinda need to talk about this thing that's going on between us"

Without stopping or looking much at each other the two women carried on walking, trying to find anything to save them from the climate.

"Yeah we do, it's all been a bit whirlwind so far hasn't it? Stealing kisses here and there and letting our impulses run free"

Vanille looked at Lightning and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah pretty much, I don't feel that's bad though; honeymoon period and all"

"Hmm but the thing with that is, what is it the honeymoon period for? Relationship? Play? What?"

"Well… err…I guess relationship?"

Vanille scuffed her feet along the snow, shyly asking Lightning the question she had been aching to get off her tongue ever since that fateful kiss back in the cave, ages ago.

"In that case"

Lightning grabbed Vanille's hand and pulled the girl close into her own body.

Resting one hand on her lower back while the other interlocked fingers with one of Vanille's hands Lightning leant in close.

"Oerba Dia Vanille will you go out with me?"

Lightning whispered softly in Vanille's ear and she felt Vanille's entire body shiver at those words.

Holding her up for support Lightning just looked in Vanille's eyes.

Softly and slowly, Vanille moved her lips up to Lightning's.

Planting her lips on the ever-moist pair of the pink-haired woman's she gave Lightning the answer they had both wanted.

In that one moment nothing could have felt more perfect or peaceful for the new couple.

Yet Lightning felt strange, the kiss wasn't doing this she was sure of that.

She knelt to the ground in sheer pain, clutching her wrist.

Screaming out, unable to contain the pain Vanille tried to wrap her arms around the woman, yet Lightning shrugged her off.

Thrusting her arm into the snow she breathed a slight sigh of relief as the ice-cold snow soothed the burning sensation of this pain.

"I'm sorry I shrugged you off…it just really hurt"

"What was it?"

Vanille asked in slight caution, and placed one of her hands on the pink-haired beauty's shoulder, testing the water.

Lightning accepted the gesture and got up slowly.

Looking at her wrist she saw a tattoo of a pulsian symbol.

It looked similar to the characters on Cocoon, yet this was different, clearly earthly and pulse-born.

"Just this strange symbol. It's fine now. Let's go. Look I think I see a shack over there. We can stay there for the night."

Vanille tilted her head and placed her hands on her hips, walking in the same pace as Lightning while trying to gather a look at the new branding that had pained her new girlfriend not too long ago.

The two women reached the shack and went inside.

Looking around gathered the absence of something to see.

There was only a bed in the room, with a small fireplace and a bedside locker sitting comfortably next to the bed.

"Right I'm shattered beautiful, coming to bed?"

Vanille started to undress herself seductively in front of Lightning.

The soldier was slightly embarrassed at the forwardness of the red-haired girl yet smiled in appreciation of her form nonetheless.

"The apocalypse couldn't drag me away"

Jumping on top of her Vanille grabbed Lightning's arms and placed them above her head.

While kissing her lips, Vanille kept one eye open and aimed firmly at Lightning's burnt brand.

She noted that it had the symbol for the number '3' while keeping her passion towards Lightning.

After a short, but entertaining evening Lightning fell asleep due to physical exhaustion.

Vanille got up silently and opened the door to the shack.

Stepping outside and feeling the cold air on her skin she shivered.

* * *

_The five who shall bring death shall be branded so._

_Bring them together and disaster befalls._


	8. Ciel Héroïque

_Sorry for the massively late update everyone. Life has taken it's toll on me and it took me far longer than expected to get this chapter out.  
On the bright side though - I will post up the next chapter tomorrow for your reading enjoyment so it's not all bad eh?_

_Thanks to you all for being so patient and keep reading people_

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Ciel Héroïque**

He woke up like all the others; morning light pierced the tent filling the small sleeping place with a glow unrivalled.

The others stirred; making brash noises, talking and muttering to each other.

Yet he, he stayed still.

Sitting up without opening his eyes, his senses flooded with the sounds and smells of the dawning planet.

Vogh stood up and steadied himself before exiting the tent.

"What have you done with them you bastard?"

He saw a flurry of white before feeling a sharp pain in his stomach.

Snow had shouted the question before running at full speed at Vogh, bringing his fist up onto his stomach.

Walking back a step and steadying himself while finding it hard to breathe, Vogh managed to catch his breath.

"What? Done what with whom?"

"Don't play us for fools. What have you done with Lightning and Vanille?"

Snow backed away and stood in line with the other members of the L'Cie contingent.

"I honestly don't know where they are. Is the barrier still up?"

"Erm…yeah"

Hope chirped up, affirming that his magic had kept them all safe in the night.

"Well then. They couldn't have left the barrier. Anyone checked either of their tents?"

A blank, serious look swept across the usually fun and cheeky four standing in the camp.

"Nope, we thought we best leave 'em to it"

"Well didn't anyone think to check that before assaulting me?"

After taking a blow to the stomach Vogh was more than annoyed.

Walking over to Lightning's tent he pushed the curtain aside and peered in.

It was empty.

He peered inside Vanille's tent. It too was empty.

"They aren't in either of their tents. If they could not have left the barrier then something must have happened to them"

"Yeah…you kidnapped them"

Snow gained confidence and pointed a hand towards Vogh.

"How could I? I was asleep like all of you. Maybe the chocobo did it. He's the only variable in this"

"Oh that's right, pick on the defenceless creature"

Snow placed his hand on Boko's head and the little chocobo gave out a loud 'Kweh'.

A white light emitted from his hand, then surrounded him.

It blinded the members of the camp and when the light disappeared, so was Snow.

"Hunh? Where did he go?"

Hope said what was on everyone's mind.

"Probably the same place as Lightning and Vanille I expect"

Vogh walked over to the chocobo, knelt down and inspected him.

"See, told you this thing did it. Hmm…he seems like a normal chocobo to me though."

Boko tried to peck at Vogh's outstretched finger.

"What should we do? Should we go after Snow?"

"No, we shouldn't risk it. We don't know where we would end up."

"Hate to say it but Vogh's right. We best stay here and figure out what to do"

Fang sat down in the middle of the camp and Sazh joined her.

They were swiftly followed by Vogh and Hope.

They all kept watch on Boko, but the camp's barrier was still up so he could not escape.

"Ok, so Snow touched Boko and he disappeared. Question is, how?"

Fang started off the enquiry and looked straight at Vogh.

"I'm pretty sure it was a spell. The chocobo has a whiff of magic about him"

Vogh now looked at Hope.

"That seems the only way, a spell was placed upon the poor little guy and whoever touches him gets teleported somewhere"

"So we've got three members of our party missing and we just stay here and wait?"

Sazh punched the ground right in front of him at not only his, but everyone's helplessness.

"Yeah Sazh, what else are we to do? We don't even know if Light, Vanille and Snow are in the same place"

Fang placed her hands up to the fire and warmed them.

Vogh started to do the same but when a flame flicked onto the tip of his fingers his whole arm started to surge with enflamed pain.

Vogh clutched his arm in pain while grimacing and immediately stood up.

"Barrier down. Now."

Hope shouted 'Barrier' and immediately the hexagonal barrier dropped around them and Vogh ran out of the camp, still clutching his arm.

"What the hell was that about?"

Fang looked around at Hope and Sazh, but they looked just as blank as she did.

"I best go see what's up. Light seemed to be protective of him so I better in her absence"

Hope started kissing his hand in mockery.

"Fang and Lightning sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Hope"

Fang ran out the camp and tried to catch up with Vogh.

* * *

Snow opened his eyes, his vision blurred momentarily.

_I must have fallen asleep…or got knocked out somehow. _

_All I remember is that I was in the camp talking to-_

_**Vogh. **__That bastard must have done something to send me here. _

"Damnit"

He looked around; he was on the outskirts of a sprawling metropolis.

Snow had never seen a city like this in all of Cocoon.

_Am I even in Cocoon? Is this Gran Pulse?_

There was a glass roadway in front of him, but no sign of cars or any other vehicle.

He started to walk along it and as he did he passed countless skyscrapers.

All unremarkable from the last.

Snow seemed to walk forever, yet he suddenly came to a stop.

He had hit the centre of the city, a circular quad with a grand fountain in-between one giant building.

Walking towards the building's entrance he noticed busy people walking in and out.

Snow attempted to talk to the various people who came in and out but no one even looked at him, no one acknowledged him even being there.

"Well this is just damn rude"

Snow was getting angry now, and he rose up his arm and clenched his fist.

From his fist icicles were born and he flung them at the glass entrance doors of the building.

As soon as the icicles hit the glass it smashed and then the people noticed him.

They all screamed and ran, shouting 'L'Cie! L'Cie!'

Guards ran out of the building and Snow smirked and braced himself.

Repeating the same attack took care of the guards.

Snow walked into the building and saw a reception desk to the left of him, with the guard normally attending it outside and dead.

There was also an elevator right in front of him.

Walking over to the elevator Snow noticed to his left was a pair of glass doors further down a hallway.

Shooting some icicles at it and anticipating the glass smashing Snow was surprised when the icicles bounced off of it and smashed on the floor.

Looking to further investigate he walked over to the icicles on the floor and knelt down and picked one up which was barely still intact.

Snow threw it at the door but it had much of the same effect; simply bouncing off and this time further smashing into even tinier pieces.

_Hmm. Strange, must be magic protected. _

Looking through the door he noticed a lush and dark green Eden-esque paradiso.

Standing back up onto his feet he touched the floor as he did to steady himself.

Just as Snow was about to turn around he felt the tip of a diamond-sharp sword hit the back of his neck.

"Stop right there Mr. Villiers."

The soft-toned male voice spoke out to Snow.

"Please come with me."

* * *

"Vogh! Vogh! What's wrong?"

Fang had caught up to the still quite enigmatic man.

"The pain! My arm feels like it's on fire"

Vogh had knelt down on the side of the pool and dipped his whole arm into it.

As soon as his fingers touched the water it started to steam all around the area of contact.

"Woah! You weren't kidding when you said about the fire"

Vogh sighed in relief as the water eased the pain.

After a few minutes of dousing his arm in the pool of water he took it out.

Fang's eyes grew wide.

"That's a Pulsian mark."

"Excuse me?"

Vogh didn't know what Fang was on about until he looked down at his arm and saw a strange, yet clearly Pulse-born symbol neatly tattooed on his arm.

"The water must have revealed it. Strange for something like that to just suddenly appear though, even more for it to cause you that kind of agony"

"Yeah I know. I've never felt that kind of pain before. Do you understand what it means?"

"Four. It's the symbol for the number four. I don't know what that means other than that though. Sorry."

"No, it's fine. Thanks Fang. Thanks for helping me out, means a lot. Let's go back to the camp. We need to figure this all out and wait for everyone's return"

Vogh and Fang walked back to the camp silently and serenely.

As they walked a single, purple bolt of lightning shot far off in the distance.


	9. Lotus Petal

_Hello again everyone, hope you're enjoying the story so far. Thankyou to those of you who read this (and especially review - please do keep telling me what you think)_

_One thing I forgot to mention in chapter 8 - I am now a **Beta-reader**, so if any of you need anyone to help on your own story then just give me a message. Thanks all!_

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Lotus Petal**

A click, a flash, a light.

She was back; she was where it all began.

Looking down, she saw a sprawling circular metropolis.

Neon signs were everywhere, pointing in all directions.

Exactly how she remembered it.

_It hasn't changed. It's been so long since I was here._

She jumped down from the cliff and started running towards the road.

Springing herself mid-sprint off of the face of the cliff she jumped and clicked her fingers once again.

Appearing on the top of a building a mile away from her last position she carried on with her sprint.

Jumping and teleporting constantly, getting closer to the centre of the city, she jumped once more and launched herself off of the roof of a building.

She didn't click her fingers this time, yet carried on falling from her jump.

Crashing through a window three-quarters of the way up the building and rolling to break her fall she stood up and looked around.

The moment's peace was broken, as she had triggered an alarm after crashing through the window.

_Damn, that's new. _

The door flew open and bullets flew throughout the room instantly. A guard had rushed to the room and started firing.

She flung herself behind a desk in the room, dodging the bullets that were hounding her entire frame.

"Halt your fire soldier. It's Freya"

She held up her pure white sword as proof and the bullets stopped immediately.

"Umm…err…sorry Ma'am. I thought you were an intruder"

Freya stood up and flicked her hair behind her ear and sheathed her sword.

"Yes well, I suppose it is good practice for you Thousand Corper's. Damn help you; you need any help you can get"

"Umm…sorry…once again Ma'am. I'll leave you alone now"

The guard, who was wearing a generic black jumper with black camouflage pants and black boots ran out of the door he had bust in on only a few moments ago.

When Freya peered out of the door a moment later he was nowhere to be seen.

"Pssh, grunts. Don't know what the hell they're doing. Good job this isn't my office…it's a mess"

She walked out of the room and into the elevator.

The buttons only arranged themselves from one to ten.

Yet she pressed the button five three times and then pressed the numbers one and ten.

After this sequence the elevator moved and after a short while it stopped.

The doors opened and Freya took a single step into the room presented before her.

Lights automatically came on and after her eyes adjusted to the brightness she recognised a single desk with a large screen situated on it.

Looking around she noticed the large, white room that surrounded the desk situated in the middle with a door in the left wall.

Directly behind the desk was a large panel of glass, looking out of it she was seeing a familiar sight; a large, green garden far down from her current position.

Freya loved that garden, it was night outside now but she remembered the days in which she looked down and on occasion visited it in summer and autumn.

Seeing the flowers in full bloom and the trees turn red, brown and orange brought her memory back to happier days, days when she didn't have to do this cold, calculated job so much.

As her mind wandered to places elsewhere the screen sitting atop the desk switched on.

"Freya come in. Are you there Freya?"

"Yes Director I am here"

She walked over to the screen and sat down.

Addressing her was a slim man, tall and with a short blonde hairstyle.

His piercing green eyes had always unsettled Freya; they always looked cold and uncaring despite the man's face being warm and welcoming, 'fatherly' others had said.

"Good. Now seeing as how your previous assignment isn't completed-"

"But…Sir I retrieved the Key. My primary objective is complete."

"Do not talk out of line again Number Five. Your primary objective is complete yes, but your secondary and tertiary objectives; to complete the Key and to study its effects are not."

"As I stated in our previous conversation Sir there were…complications"

"Complications or not, you are one of our best. This should have been completed. It doesn't matter now. You are to go back to the Archylte Steppe and complete the Key."

"Yes Director, I will complete this mission"

"You are going to be given a day to rest and recollect your things. Leave the Key on your desk and we will make sure that when you return to the Steppe you will not fail"

"Thank you Director. This is much appreciated"

"Goodbye Freya, do not disappoint us again. Over and out"

Due to the lateness of the hour Freya decided to call it a night.

As instructed she placed the Key on her table and entered the door on her left.

Inside this room, coloured the same white as the previous room was just a large bed; smart, neat and clean. It had not been slept in for a long while.

Lights automatically came on in this room too, and she undressed in front of a frosted-glass window. As she lay in the bed the lights went off.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

_**

* * *

**The sun shone through the clear parts of the bedroom window and bathed whatever it touched in a warm orange light, decorating her room in the way only nature could._

Freya woke up and got out of the bed. She changed into casual clothes, for she knew no one was going to attack her here.

_A whole day off…luxury. This is going to be such a treat. There's only one place I want to go today. _

She exited the bedroom and briefly scanned the desk room. She noted that the Key had gone, as per the Director's words and exited that room too by getting into the elevator.

She pressed the button labelled '1' and the doors closed and whizzed her all the way to the first floor.

When the doors opened she was at the lobby; a busy place filled with many people rushing in and out of the building all the while accessing other doors and going through to other areas.

Anyone would think it was a different building, yet Freya knew exactly what the lobby was for; a disguise for what the building really housed – the Organisation.

Freya stepped out of the elevator and walked to her right. A little further down the area she was walking in now was a pair of glass doors, and through those glass doors she could see the garden, that exact same garden she had peered down on the night before.

She walked up to the glass doors and held her wrist up to the machine stood next to it.

It scanned her tattoo and bleeped. The doors opened and she walked on through.

When the doors closed all sound disappeared. The noise from the lobby was drowned out by the doors and Freya was left in the garden, alone but peaceful.

She walked slowly through the Eden-esque garden, softly and slowly brushing her hands, her very fingertips against every leaf, every flower and every petal she could see.

Moving her way through the garden and taking all of its beauty in, Freya felt that her entire 'cold soldier' persona had been washed away.

This is the garden she loved, this is the place she wished about and dreamt about.

Walking through the garden she made her way to its centre; a seemingly newly built stone statue of three swords.

She instantly recognised two of them; one was her very own sword positioned on the left while the other she recognised as Vogh's ethereal gunblade that he had summoned in their fight positioned on the right.

She did not recognise the third, central sword; the statue only showed it as a curved sword with a strange black handle and an odd 'trigger' shape.

Freya inspected the statue of her own sword; it had the hieroglyph of her '5' embossed clearly upon it.

She was intrigued. Never before had she seen anything like it.

As her sword was back in her room she held up her wrist to the statue. The embossed hieroglyph pushed itself into the sword.

_Well that was a bit of a let down._

_Best get back to my room I guess. _

_Got a lot of packing to do before I set out at dusk. _

Freya left the beautiful garden the way she came, taking one last opportunity to let her fingertips soak in all the natural wonder and entered the glass doors.

A wave of noise and commotion had hit her with a thud. All the serenity of the garden had been lost.

She solemnly walked over to the elevator and input the same code she had before; three '5' button pushes followed by a '1' and a '10'.

The elevator whirred and it took her immediately up to her room once again.

Upon entering the room she noticed that a box had been placed on her desk.

The box was sitting on top of a piece of paper.

Freya picked up the paper and read the words on it:

_

* * *

_

_Freya._

_We have taken measures to enhance the Key._

_The Key now only needs one L'Cie's power before it will be complete._

_It has become too powerful now,_

_Do not touch the Key with bare hands unless in a dire emergency. _

_The Director. _

_

* * *

_She picked up the box and took it into her room.

Changing back in to her soldier's clothes and holstering her weapon she went to the window and looked down once more at the garden she had spent most of the day in.

She sighed in a sense of disappointment that she was leaving.

A click, a flash, a light.

She was gone, the room was empty.


	10. Emergence

_Chapter 10 and WTGS is nearing its end. Yet I've still got plenty of juicy chapters coming your way. Thanks to my regular beta Eistee for beta'ing this one._

_By the way - if any of you have any questions about the story so far, then just send me a PM and i'll answer them individually, or if I get enough questions I'll write up a small FAQ. _

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Emergence**

It was the morning after their first night of true passion.

Both girls were asleep, but both were smiling inside and out.

Vanille's eyes opened and initially her vision was blurry.

Yet she didn't need her sight to know that her girlfriend, Lightning Farron was lying next to her.

She could smell her.

Effortlessly the pink-haired beauty smelt of the same colour roses as her hair.

Vanille sighed in minor pleasure.

_She __always__ smells this way. It used to kill me but now even her perfume makes me smile._

Rubbing her eyes and focusing her vision she sat up.

Softly placing one hand on Lightning's thigh, Vanille leant towards her lover and kissed those pink, flowery lips that she had done all evening.

Lightning stirred at the pressure and once she felt what was going on she leant into the kiss, applying pressure back to Vanille's lips.

As emotions flared between the two they decided to make this morning fumble more interesting.

Lightning grabbed Vanille's legs and Vanille coiled herself around her lover.

Lightning propped Vanille down onto the nearby cabinet and placed her lips on the red-head once again.

Reaching for support and finding only the back of the cabinet Vanille felt something unusual.

She grabbed it and half kissing Lightning while half trying to spot what was in her hand she found it to be a small, circular device.

She had seen something exactly like this before; on the girl she was kissing at this very moment.

Slightly pushing away from the pink-haired woman, she tried to speak, yet Lightning was fairly insistent.

"Light, Light stop. Look at this for a minute"

"Mmm? What is it?"

"I found this, just now. Hidden behind the cabinet"

After taking an official look at the object rather than focusing on her tongue inside Vanille's mouth she recognised it.

"Oh…hey that's like my AMP Gravity mod. Let's see what this one is"

Inspecting the back of it she saw the engraving which stated 'Transportation Modification'.

Slightly distracted by Vanille's cleavage right behind the AMP mod she threw it on the bed.

Carrying on with kissing Vanille's lips and dragging her thighs closer to her Lightning didn't notice the device hit the side of the bed and then crash to the floor.

The manual override button specifically hit the floor hard and activated, covering both women in a flash of light and teleporting them back to where they both didn't want to be right now – the Archylte Steppe.

The pair avoided too much embarrassment and teleported slightly up in the air in one of the empty tents.

Neither was standing up now and so they crashed to the floor together, Lightning firmly on top, in-between Vanille's legs.

The women laughed at the prospect of falling over, and then of being back in the cold camp, rather than the warm, private shack.

* * *

Fang and Vogh were sitting at the centre of the campsite, getting warmer by the fire.

Vogh inspected the recently-born mark on his arm.

He traced the outline with his finger.

As he did so the memories of the intense pain that had plagued him came flooding back.

Vogh lost himself in thought, trying to simultaneously remember but block out the pain.

A sudden crash came from inside the camp and a flash of bright light lit up an area of it.

"Vogh, I heard something. Let's check it out"

"Vogh?"

"Vogh?"

Fang clicked her fingers in front of him after repeated attempts at calling his name failed.

He came to and stood up, looking at Fang.

"Huh? Oh, yeah right. The noise thing"

Fang walked over to the tent that she head heard the noise from and after a moment of lingering outside she heard giggling.

She instantly recognised the voices.

"Vanille? Lightning? Where did you go? How did you get back?"

* * *

Lightning and Vanille had heard Fang's voice and stole a few kisses from each other before Lightning spoke.

"Hang on, we're coming out"

Standing up and straightening themselves out they exited the tent and Fang immediately gave both of them a tight hug.

"Woah, calm down Fang. We weren't gone for that long"

Lightning joked slightly but she knew that Fang was pleased to see them both.

Fang gently punched Lightning on her arm in response.

"Come on; tell us what's been happening"

"Ok, ok. Let us get back yeah?"

Vanille and Lightning followed Fang and Vogh back into the camp's centre.

Lightning told Fang the story of where they ended up and what happened, leaving out the details of the women's true time together.

As Lightning was speaking Vanille caught a glimpse of Vogh's arm, and noticed a similar mark to that of Lightning's.

While still talking, Lightning traced Vanille's sightline back to Vogh's arm and she too saw the same mark.

Cutting off her recounting with Fang she stopped and spoke suddenly to Vogh.

"Commander, how did you get that mark?"

"Huh? Oh this?"

He rolled up his sleeve and showed the mark to Lightning.

Vanille identified it instantly.

"Four" She said slightly shocked.

Lightning too rolled her sleeve and raised her mark.

"I've got one too. It burnt like hell into the skin"

Vogh nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, mine did the exact same thing. Had to cool it down rapidly"

Fang looked at Lightning's arm.

"Three" She too, was shocked at the sight of not just one mark, but two.

"What do they mean? What are they used for?"

A sudden flash of light interrupted the conversation and everyone turned to it.

"Their use is something you'll find out soon enough"

A female voice broke the silence, one that only Vogh knew.

"Freya"

As the light faded the woman appeared.

Everyone got to their feet and drew their weapons, taking up a hostile stance.

"Now now everyone, let's not be too hasty"

Freya looked around at the group but before she had a chance to inspect she caught a glimpse of Vogh running towards her.

In mid-sprint he managed to summon his ethereal blades and threw one straight in front of him while jumping high in the air.

"Fang, protect Vanille and the others. This is our business"

Lightning shouted back at them as she ran into the fray.

Freya managed to see the blade just at the last second and quickly spun around and dropped to her knees, avoiding it narrowly.

She didn't have time to think as Vogh was almost about to land on top of her.

Freya rolled backwards and in mid-roll saw a flash of pink waiting for her.

Vogh landed with a thud on the ground, his knee making a dent in the earth.

At the exit of her roll she jumped on her hands and kicked up.

Lightning had not anticipated such flexibility and so she got caught in the face by Freya's boot.

Lightning managed to recover slightly as she spun as she got caught, swinging her gunblade in a circle.

Freya leapt into the air from her acrobatics and managed to catch slight glimpses of the pink-haired woman's weapon.

She landed behind Lightning and drew her sword, swinging it vertically against Lightning's back.

Almost caught, Lightning's momentum had caused her to spin once more which deflected Freya's blade.

Vogh and Lightning were standing in front of Freya and they each stayed still for a moment.

In this moment of calm Freya had managed to inspect Lightning's weapon.

She recognised it now, eyeing the shape and style of it.

It was the centre of the statue. The statue in the middle of the garden.

That same statue that had a replica of her own sword placed in it.

"You, Girl"

She pointed at Lightning with her sword.

"Tell me where you got that weapon from"

Lightning swung her weapon in front of her.

"I don't have to tell you anything. Why did you come here? Why did you hurt my friends?"

"The same can be said to you m'dear. I do not have to answer any of yours."

"If we're not going to talk, then you'll have to fight"

After Lightning spoke she ran forward and clashed swords with Freya.

The mysterious woman was inherently stronger, yet Vogh had also run with her and started weaving his weapons just to the side of Freya.

The blonde soldier had to push Lightning away with her sword, and jumped backwards.

She was too late however and Vogh had managed to land a hit.

One of his swords had cut along her thigh as she was jumping and as she landed blood gushed down her leg and dripped onto the floor.

She tore off a piece of her top, revealing her midriff; she wrapped the piece of cloth around her thigh to stop it from bleeding.

While taking this vital moment in combat out, Vogh and Lightning did not have any patience.

Both of them ran towards her, flaying their weapons.

Just as they were about to land a blow on the kneeling figure she clicked her fingers.

A flash of light had surrounded Lightning and Vogh and in a flash they disappeared.

Freya saw Fang and Vanille run towards her, but they were a distance off.

She took this precious time to tighten the cloth around her thigh.

Fang ran forwards and swung her spear at Freya, while Vanille stood away and threw a ball of fire towards the girl.

Drawing her weapon she deflected Fang's spear and nimbly jumped over Vanille's spell.

She landed behind Vanille but wobbled due to the pain and grabbed the bag at the red-head's side while holding her sword to Vanille's neck.

Reaching in Freya clutched a bottle and pulled out a blue vial.

It was the potion she had desired.

Pushing Vanille away and towards Fang she pulled the cork out of the bottle and drank it.

Instantly it made Freya feel better, she could feel her strength returning and the gash in her thigh heal.

"Hey! That was our potion. What have you done with Lightning?"

Fang was angry and as she shouted the question at the soldier she ran towards her, splitting her spear into two and swinging the equal parts, ready to hit Freya.

As she drew near Freya only smirked.

"Ciao girls, it's been fun."

She clicked her fingers as Fang drew near and vanished in the same light that took Lightning and Vogh.

* * *

The light subsided and in front of her stood a grassy plain, she was still in the Steppe but she was not alone.

This is the exact same place she had teleported Lightning and Vogh.

"Four on one was a bit unfair don't you think? I brought you here to even it up"

She spoke with conviction and a hidden confidence in her voice and smiled as she spoke.

"How do you plan on doing that? This is still two on one"

Vogh questioned the soldier in front of him, yet he was slightly nervous.

Freya had in her left hand a wooden box, simple and plain.

She sheathed her weapon and with her gloved hand opened it up and took out the Key.

Lightning was almost spellbound, the orb that was in Freya's hand was a beautiful and shimmering midnight blue.

Vogh recognised the Key, though it had changed colour since he had last seen it in its crystal-white form.

"Got another one then?"

"And now the Key is more powerful than you could imagine Vogh Ourea. Let me show you its penultimate power"

She threw it up high in the air and took off her gloves, revealing her bare hands.

Vogh and Lightning watched the Key fly high into the air, they were helpless to stop what was coming, Vogh knew that better than anyone.

Jumping up high after the blue orb she caught it in the palm of her hands and wrapped her fingers around it.

A green light emitted from the Key and enveloped Freya.

Something was being born, something was coming.


	11. Binder of Winds

_Thankyou to Eistee for beta'ing and thankyou to all of you who keep reading this. _

_If you're a new reader, welcome and I hope you are all enjoying the story so far._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Binder of Winds**

The light surrounding Freya was burning bright; it was almost too bright for Vogh and Lightning to look at.

Yet all of a sudden it split into two, one section shooting down into the earth and the other fading away in the sky to reveal the body of Freya, still very much alive.

She twisted in mid-air, softening her landing and as soon as her feet touched the ground the green light emerged.

It came up and out of the ground fast, yet when it faded away there stood next to Freya a young girl.

She had short light green hair, cut just below her shoulders and she wore a simple forest-green dress patterned with gold which complimented her dark green eyes.

Vogh and Lightning didn't know what to make of the little girl.

She looked so innocent and even Freya was taken aback by the product of the Key.

_Was this little girl really capable of violence?_

Freya had little time for thoughts as Lightning slowly walked up to the little girl.

Bending down, Lightning spoke to the girl.

"Hello, I'm Lightning. What's your name?"

"I'm Sylph. Are you an Eidolon too?"

The little girl spoke softly without any harm in her voice.

"Ei-Eidolon? N-No I'm not an Eidolon"

Lightning looked at Freya.

"How is this even possible? You're not a L'Cie. You shouldn't be able to summon an Eidolon"

Freya merely laughed.

"The Key is the power given to humans to combat you L'Cie"

Lightning took a step back; she had fear in her voice for she knew what true powers the Eidolons can muster.

She reached for her gunblade, but before she could unsheathe it the little girl spoke again.

"Oh, that's a shame. I'm meant to kill everyone who isn't one"

Panic came over her and Lightning quickly grabbed the Blaze Edge and was just about to fire before she felt her feet lift off the ground.

A second later gale winds had surrounded her and were pushing her, fast, into the direction of a rock.

To Lightning this all seemed slow, yet Vogh and Freya had seen Lightning be thrown rapidly against the rock.

Lightning fell hard, and she did not get up for a while.

Vogh didn't want to get up close so he summoned the ethereal blades and threw one, then two and finally all three at Sylph.

Sylph just stood there, almost vacant in her thoughts and expressions.

She did not need to dodge or weave; she merely stood there and summoned wind to surround her.

The gusts of wind deflected the swords in every direction and they were returned to Vogh as soon as they hit the ground.

"Damn, that didn't work either"

Vogh tried a different strategy, he dragged his swords along the ground, kicking up dirt and flung it towards Sylph, hoping to blind her.

This also did not work; she merely sent another gust of wind to part the airborne earth and then sent the gust straight for Vogh.

Vogh stood and watched the dirt part in front of his eyes.

He didn't have the acrobatics to dodge the whirlwind and so like Lightning, was swept away at a blindingly fast pace, smashing against a rock in the process.

He groaned before fainting.

Although he had mastered his ethereal blades, summoning them had taken a large portion of his strength and he had not been in such an unwinnable fight the previous time he fought with them.

Freya had unsheathed her pure white sword and used the power of the Key to transform it into a replica of her sword again.

She laughed maliciously. Freya couldn't believe how well this was going, and how powerful Sylph was.

While Vogh was down Lightning had managed to get up onto her feet.

She shakily stood up, trying to stop her knees from buckling.

Lightning knew there was only one way to fight fire; with fire.

She clutched her heart, thought of Vanille's smile and withdrew the crystal from it.

Just as Lightning was about to throw the crystal in the air Freya had slashed at her with her right sword, while following through with a lunge with her left.

Lightning had to immediately jump back to avoid the slash, but then roll to her side to dodge the lunge.

She swung her sword in response and attempted to combat the now relentless soldier.

With Vogh still down Lightning was left stranded fighting off not only a stronger opponent but an Eidolon too.

_If I let Sylph lift me into the air I can summon Odin. _

Lightning's plan was vague and half-baked.

Yet at a time where she was a man down and was hurt herself, this was her only option.

Lightning rushed straight at Sylph and jumped into the air over her.

As predicted the little Eidolon girl emitted a tornado which threw Lightning up high into the air.

Lightning clicked her fingers which activated the gravity field, slowing her descent into the earth below.

She pressed her hand against her chest, withdrawing the pink crystal once again.

Throwing it into the air, she transformed her weapon into the gun and shot the crystal.

A pink glyph tattooed the sky and from that glyph sprung Odin.

Lightning landed on top of Odin's Gestalt mode and she landed safely.

Riding astride the white horse she spun the massive blades around, creating a vortex which pulled in Freya and flung her against a cliff-face.

Sylph however stood still, she was unfazed by another Eidolon's power.

Odin transformed back into the warrior and stood opposite the little Eidolon, staring each other down.

What would seem to be an obvious choice for winner, it was far from it.

Both summons stood there, unmoving and unwavering.

Odin quickly leapt forwards, swinging his mighty blades near Sylph.

She could not repel the attack of another Eidolon.

Sylph had to roll to avoid one blade, and jump to avoid the other.

An angry expression came across her face.

"You just made my clothes dirty. I'm going to have to kill you now"

She braced herself and created an enormous tornado, then another and finally a third.

Sylph pushed her hand out from her body and the first tornado swept forward.

Odin readied himself and performed 'Zantetsuken' on the tornado.

It seemed to hit him, yet Odin was unaffected as the tornado split in half as soon as it touched him.

Sylph flung the second tornado at him, Odin could not perform the skill again, and so although he attacked it he took heavy damage.

The third tornado was already close to Odin and he had neither the strength to attack nor the acrobatics to dodge it.

It hit him, and Odin knelt to the floor. He made no sound, yet Lightning felt the knight's pain.

The bond between Eidolon and L'Cie is made of heart and when Odin vanished, defeated, a portion of Lightning's strength left her.

Freya, who had been knocked unconscious, awoke and Sylph immediately threw a green orb of Curaga at her, before Freya dismissed the Eidolon.

The woman rushed at the weak Lightning.

She jumped in mid-air and kicked Lightning in the chest.

The pink-haired soldier, sapped of strength and of energy could not move let alone fight.

Freya held up her sword to Lightning's neck, running it slowly along the neckline.

"Goodbye little soldier. That man over there will follow you shortly"

Lifting up her sword and thrusting it at the woman's neck Freya felt her sharp weapon pierce the skin and saw blood trickle down the wound she had made.

As she drew blood she saw a strange light emanating from her arm.

Pressing deeper into the neck she looked and saw it was her tattoo.

Then she saw the wrist of Lightning emit a faint light, she looked over at Vogh and saw a shimmer coming from him too.

Before she had chance to say anything she felt an orange light wrap around her and felt the same feeling she had while teleporting.

This same light covered Lightning and Vogh although they were hurt and knocked out.

Freya, who was conscious, saw where they had been transported to; the outskirts of the place where she had just come from; the city of Eden.

* * *

The bag had been ripped off of Snow's head.

He tugged and felt himself bound to the chair he was sitting on.

Snow had full motion of his hands though so he tried to conjure a Blizzard spell, but it fizzled out as soon as it left his hands.

"You don't think we'd allow L'Cie magic in here do you?"

A soft-toned male voice spoke to him.

The room was dark, but Snow was able to make out the shape of a thin, blond-haired man.

"What the hell do you want with me? Lemme go already"

"Now now Mr. Villiers, you have been quite useful so far. A portion of your power is currently helping one of our agents destroy your other L'Cie friends"

_That paralysing pulse I felt a day ago… it was the same as how Sazh had described it._

_Damn. They made me touch that damn orb!_

"No! You bastard!"

Snow attempted to struggle in anger, and although he was strong he was powerless in this room.

"Look who's recovered their strength already, very impressive. You'll be done soon I promise. I just need one more little thing from you"

The blond man picked up a needle from the table in the corner of the room.

He walked over to Snow, and without getting too close to his face rolled up his left sleeve.

Injecting the needle into Snow's skin the man siphoned out quite a large portion of his blood.

He injected it into a glass container which filled up completely.

"The blood of a L'Cie, a most valuable substance"

He placed the container into his jacket pocket and his piercing green eyes sparkled with a hint of malice.

"Thank you Mr. Villiers. You are all done"

A knock came at the door and a Sergeant walked in.

"Director, we've picked up three heat signatures on the outskirts of the city. We're sending a team of Retrievals there immediately"

"Excellent news Sergeant. Any identification of the subjects?"

"We believe it to be two L'Cie and Agent Freya"

The Director smiled.

_The stage is set, and the actors are all here. _

_It's time for the final act of the plan to come together._


	12. Those Whose Fate Is Sealed

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Those Whose Fate Is Sealed**

Long ago when the Maker walked on Gran Pulse he created Fal'Cie and Humans alike and while his presence was felt, everyone was happy.

Yet when he disappeared, chaos erupted. The Fal'Cie became lost children and the humans vied for power among themselves.

Through time the Fal'Cie learnt that they could brand humans and task them with objectives to complete.

Not all Fal'Cie liked this idea and so fought against the new world 'Cocoon' which lured humans from their native world of Gran Pulse.

Having near omniscience the Maker touched five individuals while he still roamed Pulse, branding them with a simple number, for he knew that a hellish war would break out between his creations.

These five special brands could only be activated when brought together, and even then it required a Key to complete the ritual.

The Maker told his most trusted Fal'Cie creation, Titan to create this Key but watch over it for it should never fall into human hands.

When the War of Transgression started those five individuals found their way to one another and Titan gave them the Key as reward for completing his trials.

Once the ritual was complete light bathed them and they began to transform into Iudica, a fearsome Fal'Cie who would reign until the Maker's return.

The Sanctum Fal'Cie did not want to be ruled by one of their own kin and so branded residents of Cocoon to use the magic the brand gave them and stop Iudica's birth.

The plan was successful, yet a flaw remained.

The Sanctum L'Cie had managed to stop four out of the five who had been branded, yet the head of Iudica who had been weakened had been transformed back into the human state, yet with all the intention of a Fal'Cie.

Falling from the Cocoon sky the Sanctum Fal'Cie caught the frail human body and buried it in Eden, making sure it would never rise again.

Upon touching Cocoon's tainted soil the human body turned to stone, and it presented three swords at its base as a loophole to release it when the time came again.

The orb-like Key returned to Titan's throne and years went by, dulling the power within it.

The statue too lay dormant, and every generation Iudica attempted to impose the numbered brands on individuals again, yet every generation had failed, turning the failures into horrific monsters.

Until one day when a pink-haired girl was the first born of proud parents, Iudica recognised the fourth and final child to able to accept the brand.

The Fal'Cie watched over the four individuals and knew its time of re-birth was coming.

* * *

As Freya scanned the horizon of the city, wondering not only how the brands had taken them here, but why, out of the corner of her eye she saw Lightning and Vogh stir.

Lightning was still badly injured, her neck trickled blood down her clothes while Vogh was relatively fine after recovering his energy.

Lightning tore a section of her cape and wrapped it around her neck, trying to prevent any more blood loss.

Vogh staggered onto his feet and saw Freya standing there, healed and perfectly fine.

"What have you done to us? Where have you taken us?"

"I haven't taken us anywhere. The last thing I know is that these marks shone and then we ended up here"

"Let's finish what we started back at the Steppe then. Prepare yourself!"

Vogh braced himself and attempted to summon his blades, he was halfway there before Freya spoke out.

"Don't be foolish. I beat you once I don't want to do it again. Besides being here means we're all in a lot of danger"

Vogh was angered by Freya's words, but he knew that she was right.

Fighting before drained him and if there were dangers that lay ahead as Freya predicted he would need all his strength for that.

Lightning got slowly up to her feet.

The loss of blood had made her light-headed and so she too needed to regain her strength.

Fighting clearly wasn't an option here.

The three were quiet; the wind blew all around and through the seemingly empty city.

Yet high on a rooftop an Organisation Retrieval sniper had Freya, Vogh and Lightning in their sights.

With one shot which came whizzing straight at Lightning the bullet fragmented in mid-air and out of the shell came an orange jelly-like substance.

It hit her without warning and she let out a mild yelp as she fell to the floor.

As it hit her the ooze covered her and made her stick to the floor. She was unable to move and unable to break free from the substance.

While Vogh and Freya had been stunned with Lightning getting hit by a strange substance the sniper loaded another shot.

Vogh made himself an easy target as he attempted to claw Lightning out of the orange substance, but to no avail.

The shot was silent and the bullet once again split in mid-air and covered Vogh in the same ooze.

He stuck to the ground, just as helpless as Lightning.

Freya stood there; her face suggested she didn't know whether to run or try to fight.

Yet she held up her hand and waved. The sniper in the distance saw this gesture and stopped.

His work was done.

A car was speeding along the empty highway, heading straight for the group.

Freya did not move, for she knew who was in this car.

As it slowed to a stop the car door swung open.

Out stepped a tall and slim blond man wearing a brown pinstriped suit.

"Director, everything is as you wished"

"Well done Freya. You've completed your mission. I'll take it from here, but do come with"

Freya walked over to the car and entered it. The Director soon followed.

Vogh and Lightning were placed into the back of the car, so as to keep them safe.

The car drove past sweeping scenery and tall buildings.

Freya looked out of the window for most of the way, reminiscing that she had only seen the street view once before, when she had been initiated into the Organisation when she was still a small girl.

"Don't worry Freya; our fate will be complete soon enough. Then we will all feel whole"

The Director leant across and placed his hand on Freya's knee as a slight sign of affection.

They were at the destination; the circular towers which she had crashed through only a day ago.

The place she called home and where her favourite place, the garden was.

This was the place where Freya knew she would die.

* * *

Lightning and Vogh were carried out of the car and into the building's main entrance.

The windows were still damaged from where Snow had broken them and there was ice everywhere.

Freya and the Director soon followed into the building.

In the middle of the room sat a bound Snow.

"Lightning! Lightning? Are you ok?"

She could not speak, for she was still covered in the orange substance.

The Director knelt down and touched the substance.

As soon as his touch made contact the substance proceeded to bubble away.

Lightning was free to move, yet until she recovered from the shock of the cold substance she couldn't.

"You see Mr. Villiers over there?"

Lightning tilted her head slightly and saw Snow, then nodded in agreement.

"Well he's my hostage or insurance if you will. He will be released, free to go if you choose to stay. No harm will come to you if you do choose to stay"

"Don't do it Light, they've got what they want outta me. They need you. Just go!"

Snow struggled in the chair, desperate to be released.

Lightning nodded once again.

"S-stay, I'll stay"

She could only whisper as she tried to regain her voice.

"Good girl, we knew you'd sacrifice yourself for one of your friends. Goodbye Mr Villiers it's been charming."

The Director clicked his fingers and Snow, still bound to the chair was surrounded by light.

In a flash he disappeared from the entrance of the building.

The Director hovered over Vogh, and he knelt down and touched the substance encasing the man and watched it dissolve before his eyes.

"Claire, be a dear and carry Vogh for a while will you?"

Lightning didn't really have a choice; she was in a building filled with guards, her neck was still wounded and she was just learning to move again after being in the jelly substance.

This was one of the worst situations she had ever been in, and there was seemingly only one way through – following the words of the Director, mysterious as he was.

The Director led them all down a hallway, to a set of double glass doors.

Freya recognised this instantly, for through these doors stood the garden she had wandered in.

The Director held his wrist up to the machine next to the doors and it scanned his wrist.

Lightning was surprised; she had spotted that he had a mark like hers too.

She could not understand what it meant, yet figured it had to be either 'One' or 'Two'.

The doors opened and everyone walked through.

Lightning looked around at the beautiful garden, while Freya simply closed her eyes and took long, deep breaths.

She knew that if she was going to die then she wanted to be able to smell serenity before she did.

They arrived at the stone statue in a matter of moments.

Lightning dumped Vogh on the ground and she ran over to the statue, recognising her own weapon instantly.

She touched the stone statue, and indeed it was an exact replica.

Yet she could tell that this statue had been here far before her weapon was forged.

"Claire, put your weapon in the indent on the statue"

Lightning did as the man instructed, although not under her own volition.

She moved like a puppet on strings, placing her sword down in front of the replica of her own sword.

Once it was firmly in the control over her snapped out of it.

She shook her head and then saw what she had done. Attempting to pull the sword from the stone yielded no results.

It was firmly stuck.

"Freya, you know what to do"

The Director spoke again, yet Freya was under her own will.

She walked up to the statue and placed her own pure-white sword in the indentation in front of her stone replica.

"The Key Freya, give it to me please"

She ruffled around in her bag and took out the wooden box and handed it to the Director.

He opened the box and took out the Key and held it in his hands running his fingers over it.

It shimmered in the garden light.

"It isn't quite complete, just one more L'Cie. Claire, come here and hold out your hands"

The puppet-master had returned and Lightning wandered aimlessly over to the man.

She held out her hands and the Director let the Key slip from his fingers into hers.

As soon as contact was made Lightning let out a scream of pain. The Key drained her remaining energy and she collapsed to the floor, barely alive.

The Director didn't care. He picked up the Key and saw it transform back into the deep crimson it started as, yet this iteration of it pulsed in his hands.

It gave out a beat every few seconds, as if it were a heart.

He stood next to Vogh, who was still on the ground just relearning how to move again.

The Director placed his hands on Vogh's chest and pressed hard.

Vogh let out a groan and from the touch his ethereal blades were summoned right from his chest.

The Director dismissed two of them and they vanished into the air, vanishing as if they were smoke.

The only weapon he needed was the old-fashioned gunblade which Vogh had wielded first.

Physically grasping it in his hand the Director placed it down onto the statue like the others.

Nothing happened, but the ritual was not complete yet.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the vial of Snow's blood he had recently collected.

He threw the glass vial at the statue and blood splattered everywhere.

It seeped into the statue and a fourth indentation was revealed.

This was a spherical shape, and the Director knelt down and placed the finalised Key in this new opening.

The swords of the statue slowly started to sink into the ground and then the Key followed too.

The statue of the human started to crack and light seeped out through those cracks.

* * *

_The five who shall bring death shall be branded so._

_Bring them together and disaster befalls._

_Those lost shall be found,_

_Those slept shall wake_

_Mother, Origin,_

_Asélia_


	13. The Birth Of A God

_Hello everyone! Now although once read, this may seem like the final chapter, it isn't. There's still one more after this so don't worry! You've still got some more WTGS goodness to come._

_Hope you all enjoy, and if you like the story, speak up. I love reading the reviews you all give me. Thanks to my regular beta Eistee for doing this as usual._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**The Birth of a God**

Fang and Vanille were shocked that Freya had stolen their supplies and just disappeared off into parts unknown.

They didn't know what to do next, they had no means of transport nor anyway of telling where Freya or Lightning's location.

Besides, Snow was still missing too.

The two girls trudged, almost defeated in their objective back to the camp.

There Hope and Sazh, who had been wandering around the Steppe figuring out a plan were back at the camp, waiting for them.

"So, did ya catch her?"

Sazh spoke with a solemn tone in his voice, a rarity for the usually charismatic pilot.

"No, she just disappeared into thin air. We don't know where Lightning is either…or Snow"

Fang replied, shrugging her shoulders and looking down at the floor.

Vanille placed her hand on Fang's arm, comforting her.

"We're so screwed. We've never been this lost before."

"See, that's where you're wrong"

Hope smiled after he spoke, making Vanille smile back at him.

"Yep, Hope's right. We've managed to come up with an excellent plan…and it involves your little friend right there"

Sazh pointed to the little yellow bird, merrily walking around giving out little chirps of 'Kweh' every now and again.

"If we're going to find out where Light, Snow and the rest of 'em are, then we're gonna need some transport"

"So…How does the chocobo come into this? He can't exactly fly us anywhere"

Fang had perked up slightly after hearing there was some hope of a plan.

"Well the little guy can't fly us anywhere, but he should still be able to teleport us places. All we've gotta do is hold onto him so he can come with us"

Vanille giggled in excitement, and as she did so Fang broke out a smile.

"That's actually a pretty good plan, assuming we can hold onto him"

"We'll put a rope around him, then whenever we get beamed places, by touch he'll have to come to"

Hope explained the final phase of the plan and as he did Sazh picked up some rope from his tent and lassoed the little chocobo.

As the rope swung around his neck he gave out a little 'kweh' in captivity but soon after found that all four L'Cie's had placed their hands on him.

White light surrounded them all, and at first they found themselves in a field of snow.

Only Hope and Sazh knew where they wanted to go, but before trying to move on Vanille stopped them.

"Hey wait; this is where Light and I came the first time we got teleported by Boko"

"I doubt she's here now. C'mon let's go"

The light hovered around them again, and in a flash they were gone.

Teleporting was usually a precise method, if you had an AMP Modification, yet otherwise it could take you a random number of places.

One of those places was where the group ended up now; a very hot place.

Landing down seared their feet. As they looked around they realised they were only ten feet from the mouth of a Pulsian volcano.

"This is definitely not where Lightning is. We need to get outta here"

Sazh had to shout to let the others hear them; his normal voice would have been drowned out by the raging flames near them.

They touched the chocobo's head once more, bounding from location to location.

Some of them the group recognised; Lake Bresha, Vallis Media, Bodhum, yet others were places they still had yet to visit.

At one point they group touched down in a PSICOM military base, not the favoured location of four fugitive L'Cie yet this was the place Hope and Sazh were desperate to get to.

They touched down in a disused building on the outskirts of the base.

Hope and Sazh exited the building, Fang, Vanille and the noisy Boko staying behind until the coast was clear.

The two males crept stealthily through the base, every so often nudging the girls towards their position.

After sneaking through the base, avoiding all soldiers they came across the group eventually came to the hanger.

All four walked in and saw a massive place filled with airships.

The hanger was empty; no one was guarding PSICOM's greatest treasure – an airship.

Sazh crept up to one of the older models as to not cause suspicion and placed his hand on the side of the ship, causing the door to open.

Sazh jumped in, finding the cockpit and the others ran to the open door and entered the airship too.

As soon as Sazh started the engines and lifted off from the ground a few PSICOM soldiers burst into the hanger after hearing the roar of the engine.

Hope and Vanille hung onto the sides of the door and threw orbs of magic at the soldiers as they attempted to shoot the airship down.

Pushing the engines to full the airship flew out of the hanger and the door closed.

Hope and Vanille rolled back into the airship as it flew out of the hanger.

Into the air they all breathed a sigh of relief, they were safe.

The L'Cie had transport, now they needed direction as to where Lightning was.

Flying around for a while they suddenly felt a crash.

Sazh was an ace pilot so he was sure they didn't hit anything.

Fang searched the ship and she found nothing, until she hit the cargo hold.

"Well well, seems we have a visitor don't we?"

"Just let me go Fang, don't play coy. I've been tied up long enough"

Snow greeted her with a sharp response.

"So, how did you get here then?"

She asked Snow question while breaking him free of his chains with her magic.

He stretched, enjoying his freedom and walked through the ship to the cockpit.

The others were overjoyed at seeing Snow, who had disappeared a few days ago.

He recounted what had happened to him; his time in Eden, being held by the Director and seeing Lightning and Vogh captured.

Snow told them that they needed to go to the city of Eden; Cocoon's capital.

The group headed straight there, Snow guiding them to the exact place they needed to be.

Upon nearing the city there was a shockwave, it hit the airship and effectively stopped it from moving.

Sazh pushed the airship to its limits; the engine was burning up just trying to move.

A pillar of light erupted from the sky; the L'Cie had found their destination.

* * *

Lightning was hurt. Almost all of her energy had been drained and the wound in her neck was still bleeding.

Vogh, was still unable to move due to being encased within the jelly substance.

Only the Director and Freya stood to see what was coming.

As light had seeped through the cracks in the statue, it crumbled and eventually dissolved.

A pillar of light had surrounded the five, seemingly taking them to a different dimension; bright white light flooded every one of their senses.

Freya and the Director saw a woman floating before them, she was beautiful and had long silver hair and white eyes, clothed only in the white light that surrounded them all.

"Those who are branded, welcome. I am Asélia"

The mysterious woman continued on.

"Over hundreds of years I have waited to find those who could carry my brand, and you four are those who stand before me today"

"I have been called many names; Mother, Birth, Origin and Goddess Atolu, yet these are all false names. For while my body is that of Asélia, the first human I came to brand my true name is that of Iudica, Judge of all Fal'Cie"

"Yet I am only its mind and the four I have gathered shall be my limbs as those four who lived were five-hundred years ago."

She held out her hand and from it the Key appeared.

It was still a deep pulsing crimson, yet while in her possession it pulsated more frequently.

"Thank you for doing such a wonderful job in completing this. I'm sure you have enjoyed the power it has granted you. Yet now that it is complete it has fulfilled its purpose"

Asélia threw the Key to the floor, and the glass object shattered. The core of the object remained; a small, beating heart.

"The heart of a Fal'Cie, a most powerful thing. Without any of you the heart would not be as strong as it is today, and for that you shall share in the ultimate power with me"

She summoned the heart to her, and it levitated off the ground and straight into her hand.

Placing it up against her chest she pushed the heart inside and once it was fully consumed she breathed a heavy sigh.

"A heart is a heavy weight on a chest, and I have been without one for five hundred years. Now I am nearly complete. It's time branded ones; it is time to become a Fal'Cie"

Asélia curled up in mid-air and then stretched out quickly, releasing a shockwave which immediately hit the four who were below her.

As soon as the shockwave grasped them, each of them levitated in the air, unable to move yet slowly drifting towards Asélia as if she were emitting a gravity field.

Freya was the first to touch Asélia, she felt her foot sink into the woman's physical body.

She felt no pain for as soon as she made physical contact with the woman her mind became dull.

Her memory wiped, as if her entire life she had been in a coma just waiting for this single moment, to be free, to be whole again.

Next the Director made contact with the woman, and his mind too went blank. Freya was nowhere to be seen, she had been wholly consumed by Asélia.

Once the Director had been consumed Vogh was next to perform the process. His mind too went blank and he was lost.

While Lightning was gravitating towards Asélia, in the last moments of her life she remembered a song her mother used to sing to her at bedtime when she was a little girl.

* * *

'_The fields of green shall be home to many,_

_For the wind and the rain shall be kept at bay._

_The lives we live will be extraordinary,_

_For it will be happy day to day._

_Glass will be our warning,_

_That's clear to all._

_For when it shatters_

_Doom shall fall'_

_

* * *

_As Lightning finished the song in her head her foot had touched Asélia.

Her memories began fading away until there was nothing left. Her mind was blank.

The woman known as Claire Farron was gone forever.


	14. LabourLoveLost

_And now for story finale of When The Glass Shatters. _

_I just wanted to say thankyou all to those who have read, reviewed and helped me along the way of this story, Its been a journey, one which I hope you have all enjoyed._

_One last thing to say - check back on the 11th November for something rather special._

_When The Glass Shatters_

**Labour/Love/Lost**

The hulking machine of the airship powered through the shockwave's hold over them.

Everyone saw the pillar of light, yet they could not see through it.

"Light's down there, you've gotta go get her!"

Snow shouted encouragement to Vanille.

They all knew that if anyone could and should save Lightning, it had to be the one who held a deep love for her; Vanille.

"Snow's right girl, I'll get you down there. Just leave it to me"

Fang was standing near the edge of the door of the airship and she let go and fell.

Everyone didn't know what she was doing jumping out like that.

Yet Fang had a plan. While falling she clutched her arm tight and drew the crystal from it.

She threw the crystal in the air and by its own will it fly up high in the sky.

A purple glyph tattooed the sky and the mighty dragon Bahamut came soaring down from the atmosphere, narrowly missing the airship as it flew down and caught Fang on its back.

Once she had control of her Eidolon she flew up, level to the airship and Fang waved her hand to Vanille.

She jumped, straight onto Bahamut's back and landed behind Fang.

Vanille wrapped her arms around Fang's stomach for support and they both flew down, deep into the pillar of light.

To Fang and Vanille the pillar of light seemed like a bottomless pit.

They flew on Bahamut's mighty wings for what they thought to be an eternity, yet Vanille could see the bottom.

It too was covered in light, yet she saw a portion of Lightning merging into the light.

Vanille shouted Lightning's name, yet her voice didn't seem to have any effect in the pillar.

They finally reached the bottom and Vanille released her grip on Fang and she jumped off of Bahamut's back and down to Lightning.

Lightning was fading fast, when Vanille first saw her she was half consumed, and now she only had her arm left showing.

Falling down, Vanille reached out her hand and grabbed hold of Lightning's.

Grasping it tightly, Vanille felt her lover's hand respond with a twitch.

She smiled, Lightning was in there, and she knew who was rescuing her.

Vanille spoke again.

"Lightning, Lightning. I'm coming for you beautiful. Just hold on"

Her hand twitched again.

Fang had tied herself to Bahamut and jumped off, trying to fall enough to reach hold of Vanille.

"I'm going to get you out of here Lightning. I-I"

She stuttered. Her words could not escape her lips without her shedding tears.

"Claire Farron, I love you, with all my heart. Let my heart be your guide through the darkness of the light. Please, just come back to me"

As she declared her love little water droplets ran out of her eyes and speedily up into the air.

Fang, who now had a hold of Vanille's foot, ready to drag her back up was hit in the face by all these little water droplets.

One landed on her lips, she licked them and tasted how salty it was.

Realising that they were her friend's tears she simply smiled.

"Vanille now, grab hold of Lightning and pull"

The hand of Lightning twitched once again and as Vanille held tight and pulled she felt Lightning grip in return.

Smiling happily, she pulled on Lightning's arm and Fang pulled on Vanille's leg.

Fang gave the signal to Bahamut to fly up and once again the pillar of light seemed like an eternity in a heartbeat.

After a short while of flying straight up Vanille could see Lightning's body emerge.

First her arms, then her head, body and finally her legs and feet all emerged.

Vanille breathed a sigh of relief, yet all was not that simple.

As Lightning had fully emerged from being consumed by Asélia the transformation was not complete.

A gigantic shockwave was emitted as soon as Lightning had left.

Fang and Vanille were sent skyward, Vanille had a tight hold of Lightning so she couldn't go anywhere, yet they were all swaying from side to side heavily.

The shockwave had completely obliterated the pillar of light and a sudden rush of sky, sun and air had hit them.

The airship was waiting above, yet everyone looked concerned.

The pillar of light had not been a great omen, yet it being destroyed certainly wasn't.

As the light faded away everyone could see exactly what had caused the shockwave.

What had emerged was a golden colour, with two broad mechanical angel wings on its back.

It had the head of a griffon, its beak filled with razor like teeth, yet it had a golden set of armour covering its entire body as if it were a legendary knight.

The armour had only one distinct feature; emblazoned on the breastplate were ancient scales.

The monster stood there, taking it its surroundings.

It was taller than any building in the city of Eden, and could even be seen from Gran Pulse.

All the L'Cie were on edge. No one knew whether to run or fight.

After a while of being motionless the armoured creature spoke.

"I am Iudica, ruler of all Fal'Cie. I am incomplete due to your meddling. Return my child to me or suffer the consequences"

The Fal'Cie's voice boomed over the entire Cocoon.

Vanille, although small in comparison to the Fal'Cie gave her own punishing response.

"I will not give her back. I will not give up the woman I love"

Upon hearing those words the crew of the airship decided to act.

Apart from Sazh, who had to pilot the machine, Hope and Snow free-fell out of the sky and activated their own crystals, summoning Alexander and Shiva respectively.

Bahamut dropped Fang and Vanille safely down on a large field nearby and Vanille, laying Lightning down gently activated her own crystal, summoning Hecatonchier.

With four Eidolons against one Fal'Cie the battle was an outmatched one.

The L'Cie attacked with all their might, each blasting their fiercest attacks at Iudica.

Yet he merely stood there. The armour he was wearing prevented nigh on all damage from hurting him.

Looking at the small creatures in all four directions around him Iudica spread his wings and flapped them once.

The resulting force threw all four Eidolons back, and they all were dismissed in one attack by the Fal'Cie.

After this minor attack had resolved itself Iudica took flight, and flew away. With every beat of its wings another blast was emitted, shaking the airship.

As long as Iudica was in flight, he was immortal; the true mark of a god.

* * *

Vanille ran over to the field she had placed Lightning in.

Upon reaching Lightning's cold, lifeless body she started to cry.

"Wake up Light, you've just gotta. You can't be dead; otherwise you'd be a Cie'th by now. You hear me? You're alive…wake up"

Lightning was alive, but she was in a comatose state. She could neither hear, nor feel, nor touch, nor smile ever again. She may as well be dead.

While sobbing over the lifeless body Vanille tried to heal her, forming repeated orbs of Curaga, Esuna, Raise and her own concoction; All-Cure.

None of it was having any effect. Lightning was still as inanimate as before.

Vanille couldn't stop crying while holding Lightning in her arms; she could not resign herself to believe that Lightning was gone.

Snow quietly walked up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder for comfort. She acknowledged he was there but chose not to say anything.

"We need to get her inside; we need to find a place to leave her so she can rest in a safe place."

Snow knelt down and wrapped Lightning up in his coat, and then in his arms as he picked her up and carried her, Vanille ever present by her side.

They walked in the direction of the airship, slowly boarding it as it touched down.

The group discussed amongst them where they thought would be best to keep Lightning safe; they could not reach a common agreement until Snow spoke.

"Bodhum. We should take her to Bodhum. It's her home. That's the safest place for her. Besides the Guardian Corps is stationed there too, they should keep an eye out for one of their own"

In turn everyone nodded, for they knew that Snow was right.

Sazh piloted the airship towards the fireworks capital of Cocoon.

They touched down on the beach and Snow carried Lightning into her home.

He rested her on the bed, and was soon accompanied by the other L'Cie.

They all stood around her bed and watched solemnly as Lightning's cold body lay still.

Vanille knelt down and held Lightning's hand, hovering over her lover's body.

She kissed her lips just one last time, tears appearing after every contact made.

When Vanille stood up to leave she heard a chime and turned around.

Lightning's wrist began to shine; Vanille noticed that Lightning's numbered brand was emitting the light.

Soon after she heard a crack, then another and finally she saw the noise; a white crystal was forming around Lightning's body protecting her.

This crystal had activated to preserve Lightning's body for Iudica to consume; it also prevented her from turning into a Cie'th.

Vanille watched Lightning become fully encased in the crystal.

"Rest in the glass coffin my sleeping beauty, for I shall return to part the thorns and kiss your lips once more to awaken thee and return you to my arms"

**Fin..?**

The bedroom was dark and empty. The white crystal lay there still as the day it was formed. A single, yellow feather drifted down, swaying to and fro until it rested gently on the crystal.


	15. Annoucement

_Sequel to "When The Glass Shatters"_

Hey all, I thought this would be the easiest way of letting everyone know my news.

Tomorrow at 11pm (GMT) I will be posting a story called '_Destiny's Whisper' _and this is a direct sequel to this story.

Its only going to be the first chapter, but I hope you all follow that one as closely as you have done this one.

Sorry for the massive gap between stories, life took hold and I have been without any proper internet for about two months now, and haven't been able to post anything until I got it back but chapters should come at least once a week for the new story.

Hope you all enjoy it!


End file.
